LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 
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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 




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OCCASIONAL 
ADDRESSES AND SERMONS 



Rev. SAMUEL 



BY m LATE 

jVwiLSON, D. D., LL. D. 



Senior Professor in the Western Theological Seminary at Allegheny, Pa. 
and some time Pastor of the Sixth Presbyterian 
Church of Pittsburgh 



WITH A MEMOIR BY THE 

Rev. WILLIAM H. JEFFERS, D. D., LL. D. 

Senior Professor in the Western Theological Seminary 
EDITED BY THE 

Rev. MAURICE E. WILSON, D. D. 

AND THE 

Rev. CALVIN DILL WILSON 




NEW YORK ' 



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DODD, MEAD & COMPANY 

1895 



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Copyright, 1894, 

BY 

DODD, MEAD & COMPANY. 



A II rights reserved. 



THE MERSHON COMPANY PRESS, 
RAHWAY, N. J. 






TO THOSE 
WHO WERE NEVER ABSENT FROM THE MIND AND HEART OF 

THE AUTHOR, 

HIS STUDENTS AND PARISHIONERS, 

IN ACCORDANCE WITH 

rHAT WHICH WOULD CERTAINLY HAVE BEEN HIS OWN WISH, 

THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED. 



PREFACE 



This volume is published in compliance with the 
repeated and earnest requests of students, friends, 
and admirers of the author ; its immediate occasion 
being the desire expressed to one of the editors at 
a meeting of the alumni of the Western Theological 
Seminary, at Saratoga, last May. 

In the following selections from the writings of 
Professor Wilson are presented specimens of his bio- 
graphical and historical addresses, patriotic speeches, 
and sermons. Some of these have been printed be- 
fore in fugitive form ; but it was the wish of many 
that they be collected into one volume, together with 
additional material from manuscript. 

It is due to the author to state that several of the 
sermons are little more than generous outlines. In 
his later life he was largely an extemporal preacher, 
usually committing to paper less than one-half of 
his discourse. The great body of his work lies 
untouched. 

The editors gratefully acknowledge the courtesy of 
the Presbyterian Board of Publication and the Pres- 
byterian Journal Company, in granting the use of the 
copyright of " John Knox," " Presbyterianism in the 
United States from the Adoption of the Form of 



VI PREFACE. 

Government to the Present Time," and " The Dis- 
tinctive Principles of Presbyterianism/' 

They are especially indebted to Professor Jeffers 
for his service of love in the preparation of a Memoir 
so careful and comprehensive. 

M. E. W. 
C. D. W. 

December, 1894. 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

Memoir, . ix 

Tributes, xli 

I. Addresses : 

I. John Knox, 3 

II. Presbyteriantsm in the United States 

from the Adoption of the Form of 

Government to the Present Time, 39 

III. The Distinctive Principles of Presby- 

terianism, 95 

IV. The History of Preaching, . . 113 
V. Our Country Calls — A War Speech, 147 

VI. Ministerial Consecration, . . 157 
VII. Twenty-fifth Anniversary of the Pas- 
torate of the Rev. Dr. Brownson, 173 
VIII. "Higher Life" — A Chapel Talk, . 187 
IX. Address to the Graduating Class of 

1883, 195 

II. Sermons : 

I. The Spirit of Missions, . . . 201 

II. "Quit You v Like Men," . . . 219 

III. Hope for the Republic, . . . 247 

IV. The Thief on the Cross, . . . 271 
V. Tribulation and its Fruits, . . 289 

VI. The Ascension of Christ, . . . 305 

VII. The Great Salvation, . . . 317 

VIII. Caleb and the Anakim, . . 329 

IX. Farewell Sermon, . ' . . . 341 



MEMOIR 

BY 

PROFESSOR W. H. JEFFERS. 



Samuel Jennings Wilson was a native of Wash- 
ington Co., Pennsylvania, a district of the State which 
was thoroughly seeded with evangelical truth a 
century ago, and has been yielding to the Church 
since a singularly rich harvest of lives consecrated to 
the Gospel ministry. The home of his parents, Henry 
and Jane Dill Wilson, was situated on a moderate- 
sized farm, about five miles east of Washington. The 
date of his birth was July 19, 1828. 

At this point our memoir properly begins ; yet it 
may be of interest to the reader to know a few facts 
connected with the earlier history of his family. The 
farm on which his parents lived had been granted by 
the State of Pennsylvania to his grandfather, Captain 
Thomas Dill, for military services in the Revolution- 
ary War. Among the engagements in which he had 
taken part was the Battle of Brandywine, in which he 
was severely wounded. His father, Matthew Dill, 
served in the army of the Revolution as colonel of 
the 5th Battalion of York Co. Several of his sons 
besides Thomas were active in the service ; one of 
them suffered death on a British prison ship in New 
York Harbor. The ground on which stands the 



X MEMOIR BY PROFESSOR W. H. JEFFERS. 

Presbyterian Church at Dillsburg, York Co., Pa., was 
received as a donation from this Colonel Matthew 
Dill. 

Thomas Dill, already mentioned, was distinguished 
in his later years no less for his ardent piety than he 
had been for his self-sacrificing patriotism. He be- 
came noted for his habit, somewhat eccentric, indeed, 
but thoroughly devout, of visiting his neighbors, far 
and near, that he might pray with them. In Western 
Pennsylvania and Eastern Ohio he was widely known 
as the Praying Elder, and did much to promote 
revivals and quicken the spiritual life in Christian 
homes. 

His daughter, Jane Dill Wilson, Inherited in full 
measure her father's devoutness and spirituality. 
She was known in the community in which she lived 
as a woman of unusual faith and piety. The Rev. 
Dr. S. C. Jennings, referring to a revival of religion 
which took place during his ministry at Washington, 
says : " Much was attributed to her instrumentality ; 
and I could detail an account of conversions which 
I regarded as answers to her prayers and ardent 
wishes ; for she did what she could. It may readily 
be supposed that besides attending to her domestic 
duties she would be faithful in the religious instruc- 
tion of her children. The oider ones regularly 
accompanied her to the church at Washington, five 
miles distant, where she was a member ; and she 
brought others with her who attended the enquiry 
meeting during my ministry. To me as a youthful 
preacher she was a great helper." How much the 
Church owes to the quiet influence of such mothers ! 

Her son Samuel, like him who bore the name of 



MEMOIR BY PROFESSOR W. H. JEFFERS. XI 

old, was lent in covenant to the Lord ; and when the 
seal of baptism was applied, the additional name of 
Jennings was given him, after the pastor whom she 
so highly esteemed for his work's sake. Her in- 
struction and example exercised a controlling influ- 
ence on his character as he grew toward manhood, 
and determined in no small degree the tenor of his 
subsequent life. 

He was nineteen years of age when he entered 
upon his academical course in Washington College. 
The way had not been open to him until then for 
realizing the hope he had long cherished of securing 
a liberal education. His years previously had been 
divided between the labors of the farm and a pre- 
paratory school in the neighborhood, his summer 
months being devoted to the former and his winters 
to the latter, in which he was first pupil and after- 
ward teacher. The opportunities of study which he 
thus enjoyed had been well improved. In the 
English branches and in mathematics he was some- 
what advanced ; a foundation had been laid in Latin, 
but little or nothing had been undertaken in Greek. 
Accordingly his first year in Washington was pre- 
paratory. At its close he was enrolled with the class 
of 1852, in connection with which he continued till 
his graduation. 

The quality of a man's mental and moral fibre 
never fails to become apparent during college life. 
Though reserved and unassuming in his manner, 
young Wilson was soon recognized among his class- 
mates and throughout the institution as a man of 
more than ordinary ability. He had no reputation 
for brilliancy ; his method of study was not that of 



Xll MEMOIR BY PROFESSOR W. H. JEFFERS. 

rapid acquisition ; but he was systematic, painstaking, 
and persistent. With an inflexibility of purpose 
worthy a Stoic philosopher he determined never to 
allow the proper work of to-day to interfere with that 
of to-morrow. The recitations of the morning must be 
prepared without fail the evening before, even though 
his hours of sleep should be abridged in consequence. 
To this resolution he seems to have adhered with 
characteristic firmness. It does not appear that 
during his entire college course a single failure was 
recorded against him in the class-room. And in 
addition to the prescribed studies, he accomplished 
an unusual amount of general reading, historical, 
literary, and scientific. Though there were several 
men of acknowledged ability in his class, the dis- 
tinction of valedictorian was awarded him by the 
Faculty, and his classmates heartily approved their 
decision. 

One who was with him in the recitation room four 
years and a half, and part of this time his room-mate, 
has written : " To the students in general he would 
appear to be a man of few words, reticent, unambi- 
tious, perfectly unaspiring ; but to those who were 
most intimate with him he was known to have a vast, 
though righteous, ambition. He was thorough in 
everything, true as steel to his friends, all the time at 
his post, universally esteemed and trusted by the 
students, and especially beloved by the members of 
his class." 

A few months after his graduation the chair of 
classical instruction became vacant through the death 
of Professor Nicholas Murray. An invitation was 
extended to him, then a student in the Theological 



MEMOIR BY PROFESSOR W. H. JEFFERS. Xlll 

Seminary, to take charge of the classes in Latin and 
Greek for the summer session. He accepted with 
hesitancy, understanding the delicacy of the task 
assigned him ; but his embarrassment was soon re- 
lieved by the spontaneous welcome he received from 
the advanced classes. His earlier experience as a 
teacher and his thorough habits of study enabled him 
to perform the duties of the chair to the satisfaction 
of all. 

There is another feature of his college life which 
must receive mention as still more significant and de- 
terminative of his future career. Before his coming 
to Washington and during his first year in college he 
had been habitually thoughtful and reverent. He 
was never indifferent to things spiritual, never could 
have become so, in view of the constitution of his 
mind, and the early training which he had received. 
New and alluring vistas of thought were now opening 
to him ; the work of life with its serious as well as its 
attractive side was coming into nearer prospect ; and 
no doubt he felt at times in accordance with the 
picture presented by Prodicus in his familiar apologue, 
that he was approaching the solitary place where the 
two ways meet, and where he must make openly and 
once for all the choice that would determine his 
future course. In the providence of God it was 
ordered that during the second year of his college 
life, the Presbyterian church of Washington was 
blessed with a revival of great power. The present 
senior pastor, Dr. Brownson, had just entered upon 
his work when the blessing came. For some weeks 
the quiet but deep and thorough work of grace went 
forward. The college shared with the church in the 



XIV MEMOIR BY PROFESSOR W. H. JEFFERS. 

spiritual baptism. Fifty-nine names stand recorded 
on the church's roil as part of the fruits of that re- 
vival, and among these is the name of Samuel J. Wil- 
son. His spiritual nature hajd evidently been stirred 
to its inmost depths. The remembrance of those 
revival scenes, the sermons, the prayers, the ex- 
periences, remained fresh in his recollection ever 
afterward, and he never referred to them but with 
kindling emotion.* It is not too much to say that 
the peculiar impress which he then received, the 
special lineaments and shading of character then 
stamped upon his spiritual being, remained with him 
through all his subsequent life. The steel of his 
nature ever after retained the specific temper which 
was given it in the fire of that revival. 

As has been mentioned, his graduation at Washing- 
ton occurred in 1852. The question of his life-work 
had been settled as far as deliberate choice and 
solemn consecration on his part could determine it ; 
and in accordance with this decision he at once 
entered the Western Theological Seminary. With 
the life and work of the Seminary he had already 
been made somewhat familiar. An older brother, 
Thomas B. Wilson, had but recently completed the 
course and was now beginning his ministry in one of 
the churches of the city. By him he was introduced 
to the professors and students, and relieved of much 
of the embarrassment to which a young man is liable 
when entering a new circle and beginning a new line 
of work. This brother, it may be said in passing, 
after a brief but earnest and fruitful pastorate, first in 
Pittsburgh, and then in Xenia, O., died at the age 
of thirty-six. His two sons have taken up the work 
*See pages 179, 180. — Eds. 



MEMOIR BY PROFESSOR W. H. JEFFERS. XV 

which he laid down, and though still young, have 
become well known and influential ministers of the 
Presbyterian Church. 

The Seminary building in 1852, containing chapel, 
library, and lecture-rooms, as well as apartments for 
the fifty-five or more students then in attendance, 
stood on the summit of Monument Hill. Its appoint- 
ments and accommodations, as Professor Wilson used 
to remind the students of later years, were not such 
as to encourage luxurious habits, or to unfit young 
men for the practice of self-denial in the ministry. 
The ascent from the street was laborious, the furni- 
ture meagre, the walls bare, the descent in either 
direction dangerous for those not accustomed to 
stand on slippery places, the outlook from the windows 
less exhilarating than might have been expected, in 
view of the cloud of smoke which made it difficult at 
times even to trace the outline of the hills or discern 
the meeting of the rivers. Yet he seems to have 
found his life in the Seminary from the very beginning 
congenial and attractive. He soon became absorbed 
in his new studies, which interested him more deeply 
than those of the college curriculum, and he pursued 
in these the method of careful and thorough mastery 
which he had previously adopted. His Hebrew was 
often prepared several days beforehand, that the 
vocabulary might be the more deeply imprinted on his 
memory by frequent reviews. His history was thrown 
into tabulated form so that its facts might be grasped 
and held the more firmly. In theology he tasked 
himself with a liberal course of reading, in connection 
with the study of lectures and text-book. And in his 
careful economy of time, provision was made for 



XVI MEMOIR BY PROFESSOR W. H. JEFFERS. 

heart-culture no less than mental improvement. He 
believed firmly with Luther, Bene ordsse est bene stu- 
dulsse, a motto which he often repeated to his students 
subsequently. In recalling the pleasant memories of 
his Seminary life he would frequently speak with deep 
interest of the morning prayer-meetings to which the 
classes were summoned by the early bell in the hall, 
inconveniently early for some, and of the alternate 
Mondays which were given wholly to prayer and 
meditation. He would gratefully recur to the seasons 
of refreshing which were at times enjoyed in the insti- 
tution, and to the spiritual influence exerted by those 
holy men of God who then constituted the Faculty. 

At the close of the Seminary year in 1855 his 
theological course was completed, but his connec- 
tion with the institution was not allowed to terminate. 
His accurate scholarship and force of character had 
commended him to the Faculty as one who might 
render them valuable assistance in the work of in- 
struction. The chair of Ecclesiastical History had 
become vacant through the transfer of Dr. McGill to 
the Seminary at Princeton. The Professor of Biblical 
Literature, whose work included both Old and New 
Testament exegesis, was in urgent need of assistance 
in Hebrew. As the way was not yet open for the 
election of a new professor, it was necessary to secure 
as instructor one who would be qualified to render 
aid in both these departments. The selection was 
made with entire unanimity on the part of the Faculty 
and the members of the Board who were consulted, 
and the name of Samuel J. Wilson was announced 
for the ensuing year as Instructor in Ecclesiastical 
History and Hebrew. Thus, under the guidance, as 



MEMOIR BY PROFESSOR W. H. JEFFERS. XV11 

he always felt, of Divine Providence, and without any 
seeking on his part, he was led to enter upon that which 
proved the great work of his life. 

On the 18th of April, 1855, he appeared before the 
Presbytery of Washington, then in session in Wheel- 
ing, as a candidate for licensure. His early pastor, 
Dr. Brownson, was in the Moderator's chair ; and it 
was a pleasant coincidence which he often recalled, 
that he whom he revered as his spiritual father, under 
whose ministry he had been brought into the com- 
munion of the Church, and from whose hand also he 
had received his college diploma at graduation, was the 
one from whom he now received the official announce- 
ment of his license to preach the Gospel. 

His first work in the pulpit was that of supplying 
the First Presbyterian Church of Steubenville while 
the pastor, Rev. H. G. Comingo, D. D., was travelling 
in Europe. After this he preached for some months 
in the Second Church of Wheeling and received an 
urgent call to become their pastor ; but his engage- 
ment with the Seminary precluded his acceptance. 

After two years of service as instructor in the 
Seminary, in which he fully met the expectations of 
the Faculty and indicated his eminent fitness for this 
line of work, it was felt by the friends of the institu- 
tion that he should be advanced to the full professor- 
ship. He was elected to this by the General Assem- 
bly of 1857, in session at Lexington, Ky.; and on the 
27th of April the year following he was duly installed 
as Professor of Ecclesiastical History and Homiletics. 
The union of two subjects of theological instruction 
so entirely distinct in the department assigned him 
was not intended to be permanent. It was to con- 



XV1U MEMOIR BY PROFESSOR W. H. JEFFERS. 

tinue merely until the Faculty could be further 
strengthened. When Dr. W. M. Paxton, three years 
later, was elected Professor of Sacred Rhetoric, the 
proper adjustment was effected ; and Professor Wilson 
was allowed to devote his whole time to Sacred and 
Ecclesiastical History. These branches, together 
with the History of Doctrines, included subsequently, 
continued to be his proper department during the 
twenty-five years of his service. 

It was not without embarrassment and misgiving 
that Professor Wilson, with his modest estimate of 
his own ability and his conscious want of experience, 
took his place beside the eminent men who then con- 
stituted the Faculty. Dr. David Elliott ranked as 
senior professor, dignified in manner, saintly in 
character, for years past a recognized leader in the 
Church ; next to him was Dr. Jacobus, an accom- 
plished scholar, a high authority in Biblical interpre- 
tation, and an eminent author ; and then Dr. Plumer, 
renowned as a pulpit orator, a commanding figure in 
church courts and religious assemblies, singularly im- 
pressive and magnetic in the lecture-room and the 
conference. To become the colleague of these distin- 
guished men he justly considered a high honor ; to 
be judged by the standard of their attainments he 
could not but regard as a severe ordeal. But the 
cordiality with which he was received by both pro- 
fessors and students at once relieved him of his em- 
barrassment and afforded him all needed encourage- 
ment in his work. The high conception which he 
was led to form at the outset of the character and 
attainments requisite for a theological professorship 
was doubtless of great value to him in subsequent years. 



MEMOIR BY PROFESSOR W. H. JEFFERS. XIX 

The field which he was required to traverse, as Pro- 
fessor of Sacred and Ecclesiastical History, is one of 
such extent that to become familiar with all portions 
of it is the work of a lifetime. Sacred or biblical his- 
tory as derived from a careful and critical interpreta- 
tion of the sacred text, and illustrated from ancient 
monuments, contemporaneous records, and tradition, is 
a vast field for investigation in itself. The historv of 
the Christian Church through its more than eighteen 
centuries of varying progress, growth, degeneracy, 
corruption, reformation, persecution, controversies, is 
a field equally vast, with a literature still more bewil- 
dering in its compass and variety. These two were 
united in the department of instruction for which 
Professor Wilson was to be responsible. Accordingly 
the work of preparing for his classes, while to him 
intensely interesting, was necessarily laborious. He 
was not so constituted that he could rest satisfied with 
superficial and showy acquirements. Neither his taste, 
his judgment, nor his conscience would admit of any 
preparation for his work which had not the stamp of 
thoroughness. For a time he fell into the mistake, 
to which ardent students are ever liable, of denying 
himself his afternoon recreation and abridging his 
hours of sleep, in order that he might get on more 
rapidly with the course of reading which he had 
mapped out for himself. His health, as might be 
supposed, suffered in consequence, and he was com- 
pelled to modify his plans ; but it is doubtful whether 
he ever learned the lesson of observing due modera- 
tion in intellectual work. 

As an equipment for his work in the field of Old 
Testament History he regarded a measure of Hebrew 



\\ MEMOIR HV PROFESSOR W. H. JEFFERS, 

.scholarship as essential ; and this he aimed to supple- 
ment with some knowledge oi the cognate languages. 
He thought it important, too, that he should keep 
himself fairly conversant with the latest investigations 
in the sphere oi biblical arcluvology and sacred geog- 
raphy, and with the latest, movements in Old Testa- 
ment criticism. In dealing with the history of the 
early Church, particularly in tracing the development 
oi Christian doctrine, he would find his way, whenever 
practicable, to the sources. He aimed at familiarity 
with the writings oi the leading Reformers, especially 
those oi Switzerland and Scotland. Oi the careful 
study which he expended on the life and times oi 
John Knox an intimation is given in his celebrated 
lecture. With the general progress of investigation 
in the department oi historical theology, as presented 
in periodical literature, German and French as well 
as English, he strove to keep himself thoroughly 
familiar. It is probable that he attempted to accom- 
plish too much during the first few years of his ser- 
vice in the Seminary — that he subjected himself to an 
undue strain in his effort to acquire at once the full 
mastery of his subjects ; but of his remarkable effi- 
ciency as a teacher there can be no question. 

His own interest in the branches which he taught 
was kept fresh through daily study and investigation, 
and this naturally awakened a corresponding interest 
in his classes. He was considered specially success- 
ful in giving attractiveness to the more rugged and 
forbidding portions of ecclesiastical history, lie 
had the art of bringing into their proper relation the 
disjointed facts of the narrative ; of marking the suc- 
cessive stages of a bewildering controversy ; of point- 



MEMOIR BY PROFESSOR W. If. JEFFERS. XXI 

ing out the underlying principle to which events were 
due and by which they were to be explained, and 
thus evoking order from apparent confusion. And 
his skill as an instructor in this department was illus- 
trated no less in what he omitted to teach than in 
what he taught. Amid the multitude of incidents, 
chaos of facts, with which he had to deal, he was 
careful not to allow himself or his classes to become 
bewildered. He would fix attention on the character - 
istic features of each period and keep these steadily in 
view until they had been thoroughly photographed on 
the memory and made, as far as might be, a perma- 
nent acquisition. 

At the death of Dr. Jacobus, in October, 1876, Dr. 
Wilson became the senior professor and the presiding 
officer of the Faculty. Within the eighteen years 
which had elapsed since his inauguration, the Faculty 
had undergone a complete change. First came the 
resignation of Dr. Plumer, who was followed in the 
chair of Theology by Dr. A. A. Hodge. Then Dr. 
Paxton resigned the chair of Sacred Rhetoric, having 
accepted the pastorate of the First Presbyterian 
Church in New York, to be succeeded a little later 
by Dr. Hornblower. The venerable Dr. Elliott, after 
his thirty-eight years of service, died in 1874; two 
years later occurred the sudden and lamented death 
of Dr. Jacobus. 

In consequence of these changes it had frequently 
become necessary for the professors to take up work 
which lay outside of their proper departments. Some 
delay on the part of the Board in filling the recurring 
vacancies was unavoidable, and in the meantime the 
work of instruction had to be provided for in all the 



XX11 MEMOIR BY PROFESSOR W. H. JEFFERS. 

branches of the course. It was remarked by his col- 
leagues that Dr. Wilson was peculiarly fitted for such, 
extra service ; that with little embarrassment to him- 
self and no detriment to the classes he could take up, 
in an emergency, and conduct successfully, the work 
of any department in the Seminary. There was no 
branch in the curriculum, it was said, which he did 
not at some time teach, and teach well. 

During the last seven years of his life he had 
devolved upon him, in addition to his regular work, 
the administration of the Scholarship Fund and the 
general supervision of the students, which materially 
increased his labor and responsibility. For the 
financial management he had but little taste, and, he 
thought, but little aptitude ; but the work of helping, 
counselling, and encouraging the young men was to 
him thoroughly congenial. He was always ready, 
though quiet and seemingly distant in his manner, to 
welcome the confidence of those who approached him 
for advice and spiritual counsel ; and as his relations 
with the students now became more intimate, he was 
all the more earnest in seeking to impart to them 
spiritual quickening and stimulation. "I am per- 
suaded," he would say again and again, " that more 
should be done to inspire these young men for their 
work." He sought to have the atmosphere of the 
institution so warm with spiritual influence that every 
heart might catch the glow, that every student might 
go forth to the field as the Disciples from the upper 
chamber in Jerusalem, on whom had rested the 
tongues of fire. His standard of ministerial character 
was high ; he wished no drones in the hive ; he would 
have everyone who was seeking admission earnest 



MEMOIR BY PROFESSOR W. H. JEFFERS. XX1U 

and consecrated; and he would have everyone who was 
going forth filled with a holy enthusiasm for his work. 
He attached special importance to the meetings in 
the chapel for conference and prayer. Those who 
attended these conferences will not soon forget the 
spirit and power with which he often spoke. Some- 
times he would begin with hesitation and seeming 
reluctance, as if feeling that others might occupy the 
time more profitably. For a few sentences he would 
proceed slowly, pausing between his words, uncertain 
apparently what special line of thought he should 
present. But the momentum would increase with 
each succeeding sentence. As he mused the fire 
would burn ; his drift and purpose would be more 
clearly indicated ; every ear would grow attentive. 
The short, clear statements would follow each other 
with increasing rapidity, interspersed with luminous 
illustrations, sometimes provoking a smile, but clinch- 
ing the truth which he sought to fix upon the heart 
none the less effectually. Everyone present would 
be touched and thrilled with a style of address which 
might almost be described in the words of the Roman 
poet, "Fervet immensiisque ruit" as he would be 
pressing, perhaps, the Church's aggressive work — the 
cause of Foreign Missions, the cause of Home Mis- 
sions in the West or South ; perhaps discussing the 
duties and responsibilities of the pastorate, urging to 
diligence in the work of preparation, or pleading for 
the unreserved consecration of the life to Christ. 
And the young men would go to their rooms with 
new views of the grandeur of the work for which they 
were preparing, and new conceptions of the responsi- 
bility connected with their high calling. 



XXVI MEMOIR BY PROFESSOR W. H. JEFFERS. 

diligence and success. The church was strengthened 
in every respect, and advanced to a higher position of 
usefulness in the community as the result of his 
labors. 

In 1861 he was induced to undertake the supply of 
the Sixth Presbyterian Church of Pittsburgh. If he 
had been seeking an inviting field for the exercise of 
his ministry, he would probably have declined the 
invitation. The organization had been made up of 
discordant elements seemingly, and its history thus 
far had been one of alternate growth and decline, 
with frequent changes in the pastorate, due largely to 
the want of harmony and co-operation among the 
members. The church had been for some time 
vacant when he was asked to take charge of it, and 
was greatly depressed. Its membership had been 
reduced to about forty ; it was burdened with debt ; 
its resources were limited, and its prospects for the 
future seemed very far from encouraging. He entered 
with much trembling upon the work that was thus 
set before him, the work of strengthening the things 
which remained ; and through his earnest labor, and 
the hearty co-operation of the little band that gathered 
about him, the process of restoration began almost 
immediately. Twenty-two were added at the first 
communion ; a new interest was felt, the throbbing of 
a new life, before the close of the first year. The 
church became cemented together and organized for 
work as never before. Ten years later it had a 
membership of 466, instead of the forty with which 
the pastorate began ; the debt had been cancelled, 
the edifice remodelled, and it had become one of the 
largest and most effective organizations in the city. 



MEMOIR BY PROFESSOR W. H. JEFFERS. XXV11 

He ministered to this church for fifteen years, first 
in the relation of stated supply, then from 1866 as 
regularly installed pastor, resigning the charge at the 
close of 1876 in view of his increasing duties in the 
Seminary. The growth of the church under his 
ministry was in the main steady and uniform. There 
were two seasons of special religious interest followed 
by unusual accessions, as the records indicate, but 
with this exception the ordinary conditions of spiritual 
husbandry seem to have prevailed. The seed of the 
Word was duly sown ; the former and the latter rain 
came in their season, and at every recurring com- 
munion, of which there were sixty-two in all, the 
church was gladdened with a more or less abundant 
in-gathering.* 

Now what were the main characteristics of that 
preaching on which the divine seal was so conspicu- 
ously set during the years of his regular ministry, first 
in Sharpsburg, then in the Sixth Church ? These are 
illustrated in some measure in the selected sermons 
which appear in this volume ; but there are elements 
of power in the pulpit which are not discernible in the 
printed discourse. 

As a man and as a preacher Dr. Wilson was 
thoroughly and intensely earnest. Those who sat 
under his ministry had no question that he believed, 
and therefore spake. The tone and emphasis of per- 
sonal conviction could be recognized in every utter- 
ance. There was that in his manner which indicated 
that he was conscious of the divine presence, and that 
his uppermost thought was not how he might please 
men, but how he might approve himself to God. His 
earnestness was often that which makes itself felt, 
* See page 357. — Eds. 



XXV111 MEMOIR BY PROFESSOR W. H. JEFFERS. 

rather than that which is conspicuous to the eye or 
obvious to the ear ; a quality which baffles analysis 
and eludes description, but which finds its way to the 
heart as nothing else can. 

In harmony with this intense earnestness of pur- 
pose was the subject-matter of his discourses. A 
marked preference was given in his preaching to the 
great central themes of the Gospel. He had no such 
dread of commonplace subjects in the pulpit as that 
by which some clerical minds have been invaded. 
He would not allow himself or his hearers to be 
turned aside from the main object of the service by 
the love of novelty or sensation. The first text on 
which he preached as pastor of the Sixth Church, 
vividly recalled still by some who were present, was 
the familiar doxology : " Unto him that loved us and 
washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath 
made us kings and priests unto God and his father." 
The text which he selected for his last discourse, at 
the conclusion of his pastorate, was the no less familiar 
benediction : " Now the God of peace that brought 
again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shep- 
herd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlast- 
ing covenant, make you perfect in every good work to 
do his will." These texts, the first and the last of the 
series, are not unfair specimens of the subjects he was 
accustomed to select. The work of the crucified 
Redeemer, remission of sins through his blood, the 
duty of faith, that of repentance, the new life, com- 
munion with God, Christian courage, Christian work, 
Christian giving, the life to come — these and such as 
these were his favorite topics for pulpit discussion : 
and in some way or other he succeeded in investing 



MEMOIR BY PROFESSOR W. H. JEFFERS. XXIX 

them with such interest and freshness that his hearers 
never betrayed drowsiness or impatience. In his 
closing sermon he records it as one of the grateful 
experiences of his pastorate that he had " found the 
people ever ready to come and listen to the plain, 
simple Gospel." 

His discourses were constructed with immediate 
reference to practical results. The doctrinal content 
of his text was usuallv unfolded in clear statement at 
the outset, argument when it seemed necessary was 
employed, and illustration still more freely ; but he 
never appeared to be fairly under way with his sermon 
until his logic was on fire. By some his ardor and 
vehemence were regarded as extreme. They were, 
however, the natural expression of his earnestness 
and depth of conviction. In his personal tastes he 
was by no means averse to the quieter and more 
meditative manner which some employ so effectually 
in their pulpit ministrations, whose speech distils as 
the dew and drops as the small rain upon the tender 
herb ; but this was not the style of discourse for 
which nature had fitted him. It was his special gift 
rather to arouse and incite, to quicken the con- 
science, rebuke indifference, and stimulate to immedi- 
ate spiritual activity. He wished to have people go 
from his church, he said, not soothed and self-satis- 
fied, but with the deepened consciousness that their 
lives were far below the proper standard, and with the 
resolution to double their diligence for the future in 
pressing toward the mark. 

In the style of his discourses he was careful to 
avail himself of the language of common life, exclud- 
ing as far as might be technical and scholastic terms. 



XXX MEMOIR BY PROFESSOR W. H. JEFFERS. 

His sentences were simple in their construction, 
direct, not weighted with explanatory or restrictive 
clauses. He kept them straight like arrows that they 
might the more readily reach the mark. Such quali- 
fying phrases as strict accuracy might seem to re- 
quire, and as he would have employed if writing for 
the press, he introduced but sparingly. He had 
a thorough hatred of certain forms of prevailing 
wickedness, and answering to the strength of his 
feeling was the strength of his expression, border- 
ing at times on paradox and hyperbole. He was 
convinced that the portion of the impenitent and un- 
believing is death, and he so asserted in terms that 
could not be misunderstood ; willing to be thought 
harsh and dogmatic rather than to be found unfaith- 
ful to his trust. He was resolved that he would 
announce no doctrine of the Bible in an apologizing 
or compromising way. " Let the Gospel be preached," 
he said in a published address, " just as it is, and woe 
to that man who trims or temporizes for the sake of 
an ephemeral popularity." 

His power in the pulpit was widely recognized 
while he was comparatively, young in the ministry, 
and his increasing reputation was attended, very 
naturally, with increasing labor. His services were 
in great demand for special occasions, the dedication 
of churches, the ordination of ministers, the opening 
of Presbyteries, commemorative and historical ad- 
dresses. To the invitations which he received from 
far and near he generously responded to the limit of 
his ability. The number of special sermons and 
lectures which he sometimes delivered in the course 
of the year is surprising when we bear in mind 



MEMOIR BY PROFESSOR W. H. JEFFERS. XXXI 

the amount of work which was regularly devolved 
upon him in the professorship and the pastorate. 
During the years of the war his voice was often 
heard not only in the pulpit but on the platform in 
city and country, urging to loyalty and self-sacrifice 
in support of the government. It was in this cause, 
shortly after he had begun preaching in the Sixth 
Church, that he first attracted the attention of the 
public as a popular lecturer. A lecture on " The 
Times," or the crisis of the nation, which he de- 
livered in his own church on November 20, 1862, 
produced such an impression that he was at once 
requested by leading citizens to repeat it in one of 
the halls of the city, for the benefit of the Subsistence 
Committee. The vigor with which he assailed the 
enemies of the government and their sympathizers, 
and defended the policy of emancipation, is described 
in glowing terms by the city press of that date. 
From this time forward his services as a patriotic 
speaker were in frequent demand. One of the most 
characteristic of his addresses was that which he 
delivered before the Ladies' Loyal League of Pitts- 
burgh on the 27th of December, 1864. A few sen- 
tences may be quoted as a specimen : " We are far, 
far below an adequate appreciation of the epoch in 
which we live. We are making history which the 
latest ages will read with wonder and study with profit. 
Providence is crowding into years revolutions which 
it formerly required centuries to accomplish. Swift 
and unerring as the arrow from the string ideas and 
events rush onward. Mighty potencies are at work 
in the seething crucible of the nation's trial. The 
dross is being thrown rapidly off. New elements are 



XXXll MEMOIR BY PROFESSOR W. H. JEFFERS. 

seeking new affinities and crystallizing into new forms 
and combinations. Everywhere there is quickened 
thought, deepened feeling, intensified action. God 
works. Who at such a time, in such a cause, and for 
such interests would be idle, listless, indifferent ? 
God has put within the reach of everyone the oppor- 
tunity of doing something. Your hands can war and 
your fingers can fight ! When the fearful struggle is 
over, when the awful crisis is past, when white-winged 
peace broods over a land renovated and purified by the 
fires through which it has gone ; sharp, poignant as 
the tooth of remorse will be the regret of those who 
failed by effort, by offering, by self-denial, by sacrifice, 
to do everything in their power to aid and fortify the 
good cause." 

It was at a later period, and in the discussion of 
subjects connected more immediately with the work 
of his profession, that he achieved his highest distinc- 
tion as a platform speaker. In 1872 he was invited 
to take a leading part in the Tercentenary celebration 
in Philadelphia, commemorative of the work of John 
Knox in Scotland, of the organization of the first 
Presbytery in England, and of the martyrdoms of St. 
Bartholomew's day in France. In view of his famil- 
iarity with the history of the Reformation, and his 
recognized ability as an orator, he was requested to 
prepare the Memorial Discourse on the Life and Times 
of John Knox. A more congenial subject could not 
have been assigned him. Such was the impression 
which his discourse produced, when delivered on the 
20th of November before the great congregation 
which thronged the Seventh Presbyterian Church, that 
there was a general desire expressed that it should be 



MEMOIR BY PROFESSOR W. H. JEFFERS. XXX111 

repeated at some convenient time in the Academy of 
Music. He complied with the request on the 226. of 
January, and was greeted with an audience of four 
thousand persons, occupying every seat in the build- 
ing, at least as many more, it was estimated, having 
been unable to gain admission. The oration, slightly 
modified as the occasion might require, was delivered 
subsequently one hundred times as a popular lecture. 

In 1874 he was called to preside as Moderator over 
the General Assembly at St. Louis, an honor which 
came to him wholly unsought, and which indicated 
the esteem in which he was held by the church at 
large. The sermon with which he opened the 
Assembly at Cleveland the year following was on a 
subject which lay near to his heart, and on which he 
never spoke but with kindling emotion — the mission- 
ary purpose of the Church's organization and her duty 
to give the Gospel to the world. It has been regarded 
as one of the ablest and most effective of his dis- 
courses.* 

In accordance with an appointment which he re- 
ceived from this Assembly, he took part as a delegate 
in the conference, which was held in London in July, 
1875, for the purpose of maturing a plan for the con- 
federation of the Presbyterian churches throughout 
the world. The deliberations of this conference re- 
sulted in the organization of the Presbyterian Alliance, 
with its General Councils to be held " ordinarily once 
in three years." He was a member of the first of 
these Councils, which met in Edinburgh, Scotland, 
July 3, 1877. In the second, convened in Philadel- 
phia in September, 1880, he read a paper on the Dis- 
tinctive Principles of Presbyterianism, in which he 
*See page 201. — Eds, 



XXXIV MEMOIR BY PROFESSOR W. H. JEFFERS. 

stated and defended with characteristic clearness and 
emphasis the polity of the Presbyterian church. At 
the time of his death he was under appointment as 
delegate to the third General Council, held in Belfast 
in 1884. He was also at the time Moderator of the 
Synod of Pennsylvania, having been elected to that 
office at the meeting in Harrisburg in 1882. 

It would not be in place in a sketch of this kind to 
refer in detail to the various departments of Christian 
enterprise to which he lent his influence. His sym- 
pathy with the cause of liberal education was natural 
in view of his work in the Seminary. He was a warm 
friend of the colleges in which the Seminary students 
received their classical training, and was frequently 
invited to deliver literary and missionary addresses 
before their societies. The last duty which called 
him from his home previous to his death was that of 
delivering an address at the commencement of Hamil- 
ton College, New York. He was specially attached 
to his own Alma Mater at Washington, and of course 
deeply interested in the plan by which the two col- 
leges, Washington and Jefferson, were made one. At 
the time when the consolidation was effected, in the 
spring of 1869, he was requested by the Board to 
become the acting president of the Institution until 
the office could be. filled permanently. ' His fitness for 
college-work, it will be remembered, had been tested 
already. We can well believe that he entered upon 
the unaccustomed duties of the presidency with less 
apprehension than he had felt seventeen years before 
when undertaking the work of classical instruction. 
Many of the friends of the institution hoped that the 
temporary relation would be made permanent, but 



MEMOIR BY PROFESSOR W. H. JEFFERS. XXXV 

though he was profoundly interested in the prosperity 
of the college, now entering upon a new career of 
usefulness, he entertained no thought of withdrawing 
from the Seminary. 

During the last year of Dr. Wilson's life his health 
seemed fairly vigorous, and he was able to complete 
the laborious duties attending the close of the session 
with less exhaustion than usual. The pleasant recog- 
nition of his services which surprised him at the close 
of the term in the spring of 1883 has already been 
mentioned. In the course of the summer his health 
became perceptibly impaired, but not to such an ex- 
tent as to occasion much solicitude on his part until 
the middle of July. Although his appearance alarmed 
his friends, with characteristic energy he persisted in 
the discharge of his daily duties. Growing interested 
in athletics at Sewicklev, he became a member of the 
association and indulged now and then in games of 
bowling, excelling in this as he had years before in 
quoits. Sabbath, July 15, he preached twice in the 
Presbyterian Church with great earnestness ; in the 
morning on " The Manliness of Faith," and in the 
evening on " The Charge of David to Solomon." The 
death, the next day, of Dr. Hornblower, his intimate 
friend and associate in the Faculty, deeply affected 
him ; he was compelled to give over his part in the 
funeral service to others, undertaking nothing but to 
pronounce the benediction. This was the last time 
his voice was heard in public. Three days later he 
was unable to leave his room in Sewicklev. The dis- 
ease which had been preying on his system was pro- 
nounced by his physician to be typhoid fever, and 
before it had run its course his strength and vitality 



XXXVI MEMOIR BY PROFESSOR W. H. JEFFERS. 

were exhausted. When during his illness he was 
reminded that he had often said, " I would rather 
wear out than rust out," he acknowledged that he had 
carried this too far. " Nature is only taking her re- 
venge." Toward the last, in answer to the tender 
question of those at his bedside whether he wanted 
anything, he whispered, " Rest ! " And when further 
asked if he were at peace, he replied with peculiar 
distinctness, " Perfect peace ! " On Friday morning, 
the 17th of August, at half past ten, he fell asleep. 

A funeral service was held in Sewickley, Sabbath 
evening, which was largely attended and was pecul- 
iarly impressive. But the main service was at the 
First Presbyterian Church, Pittsburgh, on Monday 
morning. The immense edifice was filled with minis- 
ters and laymen of all denominations. Lawyers, 
judges, physicians, and merchants were there to show 
the respect in which Dr. Wilson was held and to do 
honor to his memory. The Rev. Dr. Allison pre- 
sided. The addresses of the Rev. Dr. Brownson and 
the Rev. S. F. Scovel, delivered with touching emotion, 
were worthy tributes to the great qualities of mind 
and heart which marked the life of the man whom 
they sought to reverence. 

Dr. Wilson was married in 1859 to Mary Elizabeth 
Davis, a woman of fine spirit and lovely character, a 
favorite with all who knew her. She died in the sum- 
mer of 1880 after a prolonged illness, leaving a son, 
Robert Davis, and two daughters, Eliza Cochran, now 
Mrs. Charles McKnight, and Jane Dill, now Mrs. 
William Walker. The son was a member of the 
Pittsburgh bar, with unusually bright prospects of 
success at the time of his death in 1890. 



MEMOIR BY PROFESSOR W. H. JEFFERS. XXXVll 

This memoir of Dr. Wilson would be very incom- 
plete if a few words were not added in regard to his 
more private character, as known to his intimate 
friends and associates. 

He was a man of more than ordinary sincerity. 
He had a profound dislike for pretence and simula- 
tion in all their forms. This was not shown in any 
sweeping denunciation of the shams which are preva- 
lent in society, but rather in the scrupulous care with 
which he regulated his own speech and deportment. 
In his salutations and social intercourse his words 
could be taken at their par value. They were valid 
always for at least as much as they seemed to express. 
He was a stranger to the little devices by which many 
well-meaning persons solicit the good will and attach, 
ment of others, the employment of smiles and com- 
pliments as a means for the accomplishment of an 
end. In his manner he was singularly undemon- 
strative. Some thought him on this account distant 
and cold ; but it was his strong recoil from the 
insincerities which are prevalent in social life, carry- 
ing him, perhaps, to the other extreme. His real 
regard for his friends was greatly beyond that which 
he would ordinarily indicate in his greetings, or ex- 
press in their presence. They were often indeed sur- 
prised to learn, through other channels, of the thor- 
ough confidence he reposed in them and the deep 
interest he felt in their welfare. The more intimately 
men came to know him, the more deeply were they 
impressed with the entire genuineness, " the simplicity 
and godly sincerity " of his character. 

He was kindly and charitable in his judgment of 
men. He had a keen perception of character, never 



XXXVlll MEMOIR BY PROFESSOR W. H. JEFFERS. 

failing, however, to discern the good qualities as well 
as the frailties of those with whom he was thrown in 
contact. Nowhere was this more apparent than in 
his intercourse with the students of the Seminary. 
While the members of his classes often felt under his 
glance that they were searched through and through, 
there was at the same time that in his manner which 
encouraged them to believe that he gave them credit 
for honesty of purpose and endeavor, and that he had 
faith in their ultimate success. His criticisms were 
thorough, but always kindly and helpful. There 
was no mistaking the motive by which they were 
prompted. They left no sting behind, even when at 
the moment they may have been regarded as severe. 

His sympathy flowed out spontaneously toward 
those who, in want of means, were struggling to work 
their way through the course. Many who are now 
laboring successfully in the ministry have reason to 
remember the kindly assistance they received from 
him in their time of need, and no less the tact and 
delicacy with which this was extended. Contributions 
were often entrusted to him by benevolent persons 
to be used at his discretion in connection with the 
Scholarship Fund of the Seminary. He esteemed it 
one of his highest privileges to employ such gifts in 
relieving worthy young men of their discouragement, 
and in helping them to enter the ministry without a 
burden of debt. 

Another quality which he possessed in a singular 
degree was that of self-control ; perhaps one should 
rather say, self-mastery. Body and mind seemed to 
be alike the ready servants of his will. The physical 
constitution which nature had given him was not the 



MEMOIR BY PROFESSOR W. H. JEFFERS. XXXIX 

most vigorous. Few who observed his slender form 
and pale face while a student in college would have 
anticipated for him a long life. Some were appre- 
hensive that he might not live to enter upon the work 
of his profession. But through the self-control and 
systematic care which he exercised, his health became 
quite firm, and his vigor seemed to be increasing with 
his advancing years. His mental powers were inured 
to severe labor and held to a strict accountability. It 
was a principle with him that everything must be done 
thoroughly and finished at the proper time. Con- 
scious, like most men of his temperament, of a natural 
tendency to procrastinate, he kept his work quite in 
advance. He would counteract the tendency by 
going almost to the opposite extreme. So in meeting 
his engagements he was accustomed to hold an ample 
margin of time in reserve. It was observed that 
during his entire ministry in the Sixth Church he was 
late in entering the pulpit only once, and then after 
a journey of fifteen miles over wintry roads. He 
would allow himself to shrink from no work that was 
devolved upon him because uncongenial or distasteful. 
His tastes and emotions as well as his intellectual 
powers seemed to be kept under strict discipline. 
He was no Stoic when sorrow and bereavement came, 
yet he maintained for the most part an outward calm, 
even when the inward storm of grief was at its height. 
He would not allow himself to appear, even for a 
moment, to have forgotten the inspiring and sublime 
truths which he had preached for the consolation of 
others. 

He was eminently a man of God. What wilt thou 
have me to do, was the question he had asked with all 



Xl MEMOIR BY PROFESSOR W. H. JEFFERS. 

the earnestness of his nature at the time when the 
gracious call came, and the heavenly light shone 
about him ; and he seemed never to be forgetful of 
the obligation he had then assumed. His life was 
effective and fruitful because his devotion was deep 
and fervent. The things of the spiritual world were 
to his conception intensely real. When meditating 
on these it was not as if he had climbed up to some 
unusual elevation and was panting in the thin atmos- 
phere of the mountain summit, but rather as if he was 
looking out from his accustomed point of view and 
breathing his native air. His spirituality was duly 
nourished by meditation and devotional reading. 
Next to the Word of God his favorite selections for 
this purpose were from the older Scottish and Eng- 
lish divines, those whose writings evinced the deepest 
Christian experience and the most vivid sense of the 
divine presence and love. The writings of Samuel 
Rutherford occupied perhaps the first place in his 
esteem. To his letters, especially, he would turn 
again and again, as presenting the thoughts and 
aspirations of a thoroughly congenial spirit, often 
re-reading or recalling a favorite passage on Sabbath 
morning in connection with his immediate preparation 
for the pulpit. Yet he was by nature no recluse or 
ascetic ; his piety, as we have seen, was of the most 
active and practical type. It was in the closet that 
he received his baptism of power. He sought to live 
in habitual communion with God, as if in the very 
pavilion of his presence ; and hence the power and 
far-reaching influence of his consecrated life. 



TRIBUTES 



From an editorial in the Pittsburgh Commercial Gazette. 

" The Rev. Samuel J. Wilson, D. D., senior pro- 
fessor in the Western Theological Seminary, was one of 
the best theologians of the Presbyterian Church, and 
his demise in the zenith of his intellectual power and 
in the midst of his usefulness will be severely felt and 
widely lamented. He was pure and spotless in his 
private life, and an earnest and devoted teacher of 
the doctrines of Christianity." 

From an editorial in the Interior. 

" Dr. Wilson ranked among the finest orators and 
ablest men in the pulpit and in the teacher's chair. 
He was symmetrical in mind and character, and of 
bright and agreeable presence. With all his intel- 
lectual strength and his scholarship, he combined 
tender sympathies and an easily stirred emotional 
nature. Human, humane, brilliant in talents, modest, 
and devoted, the Church has met with a loss of the 
first magnitude in his untimely death/' 

The Rev. Henry C. Minton D. D., in the Presbyterian Banner. 

" His career was unique. His life was an inspiration 
and an object lesson. It grandly illustrated not only 
his own force of character, but the force of the prin- 

xli 



Xlii TRIBUTES. 

ciples he held. His loyalty to truth, blended with 
charity for error, furnishes a lesson we all need to 
learn. His students and friends can never forget his 
impressive simplicity of character/' 

From the New York Observer. 

" Dr. Wilson was one of the ablest and most distin- 
guished ministers in the Presbyterian Church. His 
public addresses were characterized by great learning 
and argumentative power. As a professor his great 
characteristic was luminous clearness ; as a man, 
transparent sincerity and singleness of heart. His 
students were devoted to him, and there will be 
unfeigned sorrow at his death in every continent of 
the globe, among the many graduates of the Seminary 
who have enjoyed his teaching." 

From an editorial in the Pittsburgh Leader. 

" Professor Wilson was in the prime of his intel- 
lectual manhood, was capable to an extraordinary 
degree of inciting that enthusiasm in young men, 
without which all teaching is vain, and was probably 
held in more affectionate esteem than any divine in 
the Presbyterian Church of the West. He was, it is 
safe to say, one of the most popular platform, speakers 
in the United States, and before and during the war 
he distinguished himself by his patriotic addresses to 
soldiers and sailors, and his death is a public loss." 

From an editorial in the Presbyterian. 

" The worth of Dr. Wilson, his great acquisitions, 
and his rare excellence of character made him widely 
known not only throughout the Presbyterian Church, 



TRIBUTES. Xliii 

but to many outside of its pale. A thoroughly modest 
man, he never thrust himself upon the notice of the 
Church, and only his great merit and his abundant 
labors drew to him the attention of all. His departure 
is a sad loss to the whole Church. There is no man 
in the denomination who held the confidence of the 
people more fully, and to whom, in any contest for 
the orthodox faith, more eyes would have turned as 
unto a leader and guide." 

From an editorial in the New York Evangelist. 

" That the death of Dr. Wilson has occasioned great 
sorrow throughout the wide circle of his personal 
acquaintance is a matter of course ; for he was pos- 
sessed of qualities to call out warm friendship. And 
to a yet larger number who, though not intimate with 
him, yet recognized his excellence and devotion as 
a preacher and trainer of ministers, the sad event will 
be long remembered. The Church at large experi- 
ences a heavy loss in this sudden striking down of 
one who stood in the front ranks of her ministry, and 
was an habitual bearer of heavy cares and burdens. 
Dr. Wilson loved the truth, and the brotherhood 
which he believed to be its best embodiment. Thus 
his duties were congenial, and the Church has profited 
by all the mind and strength of a true son." 

From the Pittsburgh Chronicle. 

'' In his public addresses Dr. Wilson showed himself 
a man of great earnestness and force, and his popu- 
larity as a speaker can best be illustrated by the fact 
that his lecture on John Knox made so great an 



Xliv TRIBUTES. 

impression that he was invited to deliver it over and 
over again. Naturally, after obliging his friends 
about a hundred times, he had earned the right to 
decline any further invitations to this end. Dr. Wil- 
son made some splendid speeches at the breaking 
out of the War of the Rebellion ; speeches which 
vibrated with life and energy, and devotion to the 
Union, and which roused the spirit of the people of 
Western Pennsylvania, as but few other efforts at 
the time could do. His learning, sagacity, integrity, 
and charity made him a counsellor in church affairs 
of unapproachable value." 

The Rev. Daniel W. Fisher, D. D., LL. D., President of Han- 
over College, in the Herald and Presbyter. 

" Professor Wilson profoundly impressed himself 
upon his students. He did this in part by virtue 
of unquestionable superiority of intellectual gifts, 
scholarship, and piety. But it seems to me that with 
these qualities as a basis, the main secret of his 
influence over his pupils was his royal manliness. 
Intense by natural disposition, he threw the whole 
fervor of his being in the direction of that which is 
unselfish and noble. There are people in our day 
who think of orthodox Christianity and vital piety 
as savoring of that which is weak and sentimental. 
The best antidote for these wrong notions would be 
to know such a man as Dr. Wilson. To his faith he 
added virtue, in the true Christian sense of the 
word — strength married to gentleness and humility. 
To this quality he also was largely indebted for much 
of the tremendous power which he often wielded in 
his sermons and public addresses." 



TRIBUTES. xlv 

The Rev. Samuel J. Niccolls, D. D., LL. D., in an address to the 
students of the Western Theological Seminary. 

" What a rare man Dr. Wilson was ! He resembled 
a mountain lake, silent in its power and fulness, never 
moaning or clamorous like the sea ; pure, cool, trans- 
parent, lying indeed in the earth, yet mirroring so 
much of heaven. He was tender and gentle as a 
woman, yet with inflexible firmness of principle and 
conviction. His consecration to his work burnt like 
a constant fire within him. 

" Eloquent in speech, a master in the arts of 
homiletics, ripe in scholarship, and, above all, rich in 
the experience of grace, he was as well qualified for 
the pastoral office as for the professor's chair. We 
can all give his memory the tribute of our tears ; but 
to me there comes a feeling of loss and loneliness, as 
I walk these halis, which I cannot cast aside. 

" ' He passed ; a soul of nobler tone ; 

My spirit loved, and loves him yet, 
Like some poor girl whose heart is set 
On one whose rank exceeds her own.' ' 

Resolutions adopted by the officers of the Fourteenth Regiment, 

N. G. P. 

" Whereas, Chaplain S. J. Wilson has been con- 
nected with the Fourteenth Regiment since December, 
1875, and by his courteous and Christian example 
has endeared himself to every member of the organiza- 
tion and set an example worthy of emulation, there- 
fore be it 

" Resolved, That in the sudden and unexpected death 
of our chaplain we mourn and feel that we have lost 



Xlvi TRIBUTES. 

an earnest and sincere friend and spiritual adviser, 
and a consistent worker among the members of the 
regiment. That we bow with submission to the will 
of Him who does all things right, knowing that if 
we live the life that he did we shall all meet when 
the final roll is called across the river ; and be it 
further 

" Resolved, That these resolutions be recorded in the 
adjutant's record of the regiment and a copy be sent 
to the family of our dearly beloved chaplain. Further, 
that we wear the usual badge of mourning for thirty 
days, and that the officers attend the funeral in a 
body." 

From an editorial in the Pittsburgh Times. 

" In the death of Professor S. J. Wilson the age loses 
a man whose place cannot be refilled perhaps during 
the present generation. While consistent in every- 
thing he advocated, whether of a secular or spiritual 
nature, his forcible utterances were always straight to 
the point and were calculated to sway the actions of 
men who were not easily led by another's eloquence. 
As a minister he was eminently practical in all he 
advised, and was singularly free from any suspicion 
of the 'bunkums' that too often detract from the 
influence of otherwise worthy divines. This straight- 
forward principle he carried into his sermons, and 
they were as practical in their aims as any of the 
secular enterprises engaged in by a successful 
merchant. Professor Wilson, in his half century of life, 
did more to elevate the cause of religion than almost 
any other divine in Western Pennsylvania, and while 
shedding a tear at his too early departure we must 



TRIBUTES. xlvii 

admit that he did the work of a long life during the 
limited period he was allowed to remain on earth." 

From the Minute adopted by the Presbytery of Pittsburgh. 

"This Presbytery is profoundly moved by the utter- 
ances of sister Presbyteries on every side regarding 
the character and work of our beloved co-Presbyter, 
Samuel Jennings Wilson. While it is not possible 
that such a man can be the exclusive possession of 
any fraction of the Church, yet next to his family, and 
to the beloved pupils who were brought up at his feet 
in the school of the prophets, this Presbytery feels 
itself peculiarly bereaved in his demise. 

" As we gather here to-day it is with unspeakable 
sadness that we perceive that seat vacated which was 
so seldom unoccupied at our meetings for the last 
twenty years. We feel a melancholy pleasure in join- 
ing our testimony with that of others as to our 
brother's learning, so profound and varied ; as to his 
unreserved consecration to Christ of all his gifts and 
attainments ; his unswerving loyalty to the doctrines 
and polity of the Presbyterian Church ; his forceful 
eloquence as a preacher of the Gospel ; and his in- 
valuable services to the cause of Christian education, 
both in promoting the prosperity of Washington and 
Jefferson College, and especially in subserving the 
interests of the Western Theological Seminary, to 
which his verv life was a sacrifice. 

" But while we who knew Dr. Wilson most intimately 
are proud to testify that in such tributes to his memory 
there is no extravagant eulogy, we desire here to 
emphasize our testimony to his exemplary character 
as a Presbyter. Throughout the course of his varied, 



xlviii TRIBUTES. 

arduous, and willing labors, he by no means subordi- 
nated his duty as a Presbyter, but made it co-ordinate 
with the exercise of the other functions of his minis- 
try. As an inflexible rule in his place at the organiz- 
ation of Presbytery, he was found at his post at ad- 
journment. A loving son with filial reverence to the 
fathers in the ministry, he was an elder brother be- 
loved to every younger minister; yet in Presbytery 
the people were ever on his great heart. He was wont 
to say, ' Brethren, the smallest church of Christ is 
greater than any man ! ' 

" Clear and positive in his conviction of principles 
and methods ; earnest, ringing, and fervent in debate ; 
his perfect sincerity and unmistakable deference to 
the feelings and judgments of others won and kept 
the affectionate esteem and respect of those who most 
widely differed from his opinions. While his multi- 
farious duties might seem to have rendered it im- 
possible that he should add to the offices of professor, 
presbyter, and preacher that of pastor, the truth is 
that for fifteen of the best years of his life he fed and 
led a flock of Christ in green pastures and by the still 
waters. He preached with marked individuality — 
with the power and demonstration of the Spirit. At 
the same time he knew his flock. He lived in their 
joys and sorrows. He kept accurate trace of their 
temporal affairs and spiritual concerns. He habitu- 
ally analyzed and formed a definite idea of the char- 
acter of each member and adherent of the Sixth 
Church, Pittsburgh, the people to whom he gave that 
special work for the Master to which his mother dedi- 
cated him in infancy. 

" Whether in the sanctuary feeding the flock of 



TRIBUTES. Xlix 

God, teaching in the school of the prophets, or sitting 
with the elders of Israel, he was alike eminently use- 
ful to the Church." 

From a paper adopted by the Presbytery of Washington, Pa. 

" Some men are great by the position in which 
Providence has placed them ; some again are distin- 
guished by the gifts of fortune, and have acquired 
fame and distinction by the noble use of the means 
which God has committed to their stewardship. 
Others, like our departed friend, are endowed with 
those remarkable intellectual and moral qualities 
which, in their combination, always compel the atten- 
tion of men ; exerting an influence and commanding 
a respect which is not limited by position and is not 
dependent upon the gifts of fortune. This kind of 
greatness belongs to the man and not to his place ; 
it is individual and not official ; it is inherent and not 
reflected from place or circumstance. It is a great- 
ness which is not exaggerated by distance, but is felt 
the more as we approach the nearer. 

" Dr. Wilson had a wonderful facility in acquiring 
knowledge, and to this he added ready eloquence and 
quick sagacity in seeing the true bearing of questions 
which required an unflinching adherence to Script- 
ural principles, and conscientious convictions which 
no gentleness of spirit, or influence of retiring mod- 
esty, ever brought him to compromise or suppress. 

"He was equally distinguished for his resolution 
and self-reliance. Hence it was that from his very 
boyhood, through the whole course of his life, he was 
so eminently a self-made man. He had untiring 
energy — work was his element. He was never idle, 



1 TRIBUTES. 

and while life lasted he worked. Of all things he 
loved to preach the Gospel of the free and glorious 
grace of God. No one who has had the good for- 
tune to hear him can ever forget the grand exhibitions 
of truth which he presented. 

"But it was not in the pulpit only that Dr. Wilson 
shone ; in his private sphere of action as a Christian 
his virtues were not less distinguished than his duties 
as a minister. He was a man of ardent piety, though 
he was not forward to speak of his religious exer- 
cises. Deep devotion and unaffected humility 
entered largely into this part of his character. His 
nobility of mind rendered him utterly incapable of 
performing a mean or selfish act, his native kind- 
ness of disposition, sweetened still more by grace, 
made those who knew him trust and love him, bind- 
ing men who stood in nearest relation to him with 
the strongest bonds. He was a genial companion, 
and, in his hours of relaxation, mingled with his 
chosen friends in conversation with a heartiness that 
was delightful. He was a firm and true friend as 
well in adversity as in prosperity. 

" He was a remarkably modest man, as free from 
arrogance and presumption, as humble in the esti- 
mate of his own importance, as one can be well con- 
ceived to be in this world of sin. And yet he was 
as brave a man as ever lived. 

" He was a successful and accomplished professor 
in the Theological Seminary. He was a thorough 
Presbyterian in his views of doctrine and order. He 
was not merely acquainted with the doctrines of the 
Gospel, but they so imbued his whole train of thought 
that they came forth in his teaching without effort 



TRIBUTES. 11 

or labor in all their native majesty and grace. He 
united in his own person a remarkable assemblage 
of those qualities which fit a man for discharging his 
high trust as a professor ; he possessed in a high 
degree the dignity that commands respect, the 
accuracy that inspires confidence, the ardor that 
kindles animation, the kindness that wins affection. 

" On the whole, if a bright intellect, unaffected 
simplicity of manners, stanch integrity of heart, un- 
swerving fidelity in friendship, the gentleness of the 
lamb, and the boldness of the lion, — and all these 
qualities consecrated by a piety the most ardent and 
sincere on the high altar of devotion, — have any claim 
to respect, the memory of Dr. S. J. Wilson will long 
be cherished with tears of admiration and sorrow by 
those who knew him." 

The Rev. Dr. A. A. Hodge in the Presbyterian Review. 

" The death of Rev. Professor Samuel Jennings 
Wilson, D. D., LL. D., of the Western Theological 
Seminary, Allegheny City, Pa., is noticed in the 
editorial pages of the Presbyterian Reviezv because 
he was from the beginning one of its most honored 
and influential Associate Editors. The undersigned 
is entrusted with the preparation of this notice, 
because he was for thirteen years the colleague and 
intimate friend of its distinguished subject. 

" The fact that Professor Wilson was by the sponta- 
neous suffrages of his peers made the first Moderator 
of the great Synod of Pennsylvania, accurately marks 
his rank in the entire Christian ministry of that 
immense Commonwealth. In learning, ability, elo- 
quence, and influence he was beyond question the 



Hi TRIBUTES. 

/ 

most eminent Christian minister of any denomina- 
tion in his native State. And it is a coincidence that 
will not be forgotten that Pennsylvania's greatest 
minister, Samuel Jennings Wilson, and her greatest 
lawyer, Jeremiah Black, lay awaiting their burial at 
the same time. 

" There are two measures of a man's greatness : the 
one to be determined in the estimate of his intrinsic 
qualities, the other by his acquired position and rela- 
tion to the community of which he is a part. In each 
of these Professor Wilson's claim to be regarded great 
is valid. 

" His natural faculties were of a high order, and 
they were earnestly and wisely exercised in the high- 
est uses from his childhood. He possessed capacity 
for concentrated and sustained attention, a retentive 
memory, wide and clear intellectual vision, accurate 
judgment, vivid and fertile imagination, strong affec- 
tions, burning enthusiasm, and unparalleled powers 
of expression by word, look, and gesture. The 
foundation laid in his school and college days for 
his future scholarly growth was accurate and broad. 
Afterward he continued uninterruptedly to the close 
of his laborious life a constant student in every 
branch of his profession, and a wide general reader. 
He was for twenty-eight years tutor and Professor of 
Sacred and Ecclesiastical History and of the History 
of Doctrines, but on different occasions and for pro- 
tracted periods he also discharged the duties of the 
professors of Hebrew and Old Testament Literature, 
of New Testament Greek and Exegesis, and of Sys- 
tematic Theology, and all with distinguished success. 
His thought was as clear as light, his judgment 



TRIBUTES. 111! 

sound, and heart pure and brave and as true as steel. 
He was extraordinarily grave and silent in his 
manner ; often, in the company of his colleagues or 
in his family, giving for long passages of time no 
other sign of conscious life than that afforded by the 
following of his watchful eye. But under that ap- 
parently sleeping surface a whole teeming world of 
life brooded, and sometimes volcanic fires rolled. 
His preaching, as the many thousand hearers of his 
oration on John Knox will testify, and as the majority 
of the churches in Western Pennsylvania and Eastern 
Ohio will cherish among their proudest sectional 
traditions, was often characterized by the most mov- 
ing and overmastering eloquence. Often in the 
Seminary prayer meeting his voice broke upon us like 
the sound of a trumpet, and he at once lifted up the 
whole service to a higher level of vision and devotion. 

" The true greatness of a man rests more in his char- 
acter, especially in its moral elements, than in his 
intellect or his learning. Professor Wilson in this 
species also graded among the very highest of his 
generation. He was unselfish, pure, absolutely con- 
secrated to his chief ends, concentrated in purpose, 
of strong will, of strong passions held in restraint and 
always made to serve reason and conscience. Self- 
respectful but unambitious, sympathetic with all weak- 
ness and suffering, strong as a lion, tender as a 
woman, true and honorable as a knight of Christ. 

" As to the second element of greatness found in his 
position and his relation to his community, Professor 
Wilson must be estimated as occupying an even yet 
higher rank. He was native to the soil, embodying 
in finest quality and proportions the characteristic 



IlV TRIBUTES. 

excellences of Scotch-Irish ancestry and or the 
Western Pennsylvania!! population. He was truly 
representative as a man, and as a Presbyterian minis- 
ter, in a sense and to a degree not true of any other 
man of his generation. His grandfather, Thomas 
Dill, gave his whole life to prayer ; visiting in turn all 
the sections of Western Pennsylvania and Virginia 
and Eastern Ohio, seeking the conversion of souls 
and the revival of the Church. His mother, Jane 
Dill, was a woman of great force of character and 
eminently spiritual and devoted. She consecrated 
her son to the ministry from his birth, and impressed 
her own character and purpose upon him in his 
infancy. 

" On the occasion of the twenty-fifth anniversary of 
his entering upon his professorship, he said : * I am 
glad to have the opportunity of saying that whatever 
I am is due to my mother. I would rather hear it 
said that my mother was Jane Dill, and my grand- 
father praying Thomas Dill, than to hear it said that 
my mother was Queen and my grandfather Emperor.' 
He struggled to gain his education, but went up 
through all the stages first in each class from the 
start. He became teacher in every school in which 
he learned, retaining to the end a most absolute 
identification of himself and his interests with his 
scholars and his schools, and of the section of the 
nation out of which these grew. His roots ran out 
into all that land and took deep and wide hold of the 
ground. 

" Every student, especially every struggling student, 
was taken into his heart. The professor appeared 
always reticent and undemonstrative, yet no honest 



TRIBUTES. IV 

student ever misread the man. It was to him before 
any of his colleagues through all those years of service 
that the student needing sympathy went ; whether 
poor, or sick, or bereaved, or in spiritual darkness, or 
in need of counsel for his future course. Once lov- 
ing he loved forever, for greater tenacity of fibre 
God never wrought out of Scotch-Irish or Northman 
blood. Thus his nearly one thousand graduate^ 
remained bound to his heart by hoops of steel. He 
prayed for them, wept with them, gloried over them, 
following them along all their ways. And they knew 
him and gloried in him as their leader, and now they 
weep over the wide world, for their prince is dead. 

" He was naturally put forward as the representative 
of his section, and as such bore all the honors from 
his immediate constituents, and from the Church as a 
whole, open to the career of a Presbyterian minister. 
He had been Moderator of the Synod of Pittsburgh, 
and was Moderator of the great Synod of Pennsyl- 
vania at the time of his death. He was Moderator of 
the General Assembly in 1874, was for a time acting 
President of Washington and Jefferson College, and 
would have been so always if he had not preferred to 
be the presiding professor of the Western Theological 
Seminary. He represented his Church in the pre- 
paratory meeting in London in 1875, and in the Grand 
Council in Philadelphia in 1880. He was the orator 
always spontaneously chosen to represent his de- 
nomination as a whole on its grandest occasions, as 
upon the Tercentenary Anniversary of Presbyterian- 
ism, a. d. 1872, in Philadelphia, and his own more 
immediate circle, as at the funerals of men so pre- 
eminent in his section as the Rev. Dr. Elisha P. 



lvi TRIBUTES. 

Swift and Rev. Dr. C. C. Beatty. And if he had con- 
tinued in his place for a century, all the elements of 
power, and all the tributes of love and honor from 
a wide constituency, would more and more have 
gathered into his hands. 

" Western Pennsylvania has generously entertained, 
while they lived, many an ally enlisted from other 
fields, and with equal generosity cherished their 
memory after their death. But there is no risk in 
anticipating the judgment of history in inscribing in 
letters of gold the name of her own son, Samuel 
Jennings Wilson, at the head of the list, first and best 
beloved, and longest remembered of a noble line. 
Dear friend, it was a blessing to know thy heart. It 
will be a living joy to assist in keeping thy memory 
green." 



I. 

JOHN KNOX. 



OCCASIONAL 
ADDRESSES AND SERMONS, 



i. 

JOHN KNOX.* 

At the beginning of the sixteenth century Scotland 
was wrapped in the densest gloom of intellectual and 
moral darkness. Feudalism, ignorance, superstition, 
licentiousness, and tyranny — the worst elements of 
the Middle Ages — held brutal sway throughout her 
borders. The bishops and abbots, with half of the 
wealth of the realm in their coffers, outranking princes 
and nobles both in dignity and power, and setting at 
defiance alike the laws of God and man, outraged 
every principle of virtue and every dictate of decency. 
Priests and friars, bestial in their stolid sensualness, 
filled the land like the frogs of Egypt. There were 
friars white and friars black and friars gray — friars 
of every hue and habit and description, and friars 
everywhere. 

Monasteries and nunneries were counted by the 

hundred, and each several one of them w T as a leprous 

plague-spot. The investigation into the condition of 

monasteries in England which was ordered by Henry 

VIII. disclosed a corruption as festering and loathsome 

as that upon which fire and brimstone were rained in 

*At the tercentenary celebration, Philadelphia, November 20. 
1872. 



4 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

Sodom. The state of morals in the Scottish monas- 
teries was, if possible, worse. 

The people had these bishops, abbots, priests, and 
friars for their teachers, leaders, and examples in holy 
living. " The priest's lips no longer kept knowl- 
edge ; " and when immortal souls " sought the law at 
his mouth," they were tantalized with dead forms in 
a dead language, which were as destitute of the spirit 
and grace of the gospel as a mummy of the Pyramids, 
wrapped in cerecloth, is destitute of warm, pulsing 
blood and stirring passions. The Bible was almost 
as unknown as one of the lost Sibylline books. The 
pulpit was obsolete. Instead of the sermon were 
substituted gossip, scandal, ribald jest, and obscene 
comedy. By means of excommunication, anathema, 
and interdict — the most terrific ecclesiastical ma- 
chinery ever invented — the clergy tyrannized relent- 
lessly over the souls and bodies of men. Priests 
ground the faces of the poor as systematically and 
as sedulously as though they had been called of God 
and ordained of men for this specific service. The 
Church, which should have been the friend and 
helper and teacher and lifter-upof the people — which 
should have been quick to discern their wants and 
swift to avenge their wrongs — used all its power to 
keep them in ignorance, to foster their superstitions, 
and to add to the bitterness of their burdens. 

This apostate Church, winking at every species of 
vice, and tolerant of all forms of iniquity, " breathed 
out threatenings and slaughter " against all who ven- 
tured to question her authority or dared to seek for 
light and truth. For all such she had the ready argu- 
ment of tyrants, fire and sword. Men were burned at 



JOHN KNOX. 5 

the stake for having the New Testament in a language 
in which they could read and understand it. Yet this 
vast despotism, with ail its elaborate machinery of 
oppression, was impotent to arrest the progress of the 
truth. It could burn men with balls of brass in their 
mouths to keep them from preaching the Gospel in the 
flames, but it could not destroy or paralyze the truth 
for which these men died. 

But the day of Scotland's redemption was drawing 
nigh. The echo of the voices of Wickliffe and Huss 
sounded faintly along her shores. By and by she 
caught glimpses of the light which had been kindled 
in Germany, Switzerland, and France. 

A youth of twenty, with the blood of earls and 
dukes in his veins, invested with a high ecclesiastical 
dignity from his childhood, and with a long and 
brilliant line of promotion open before him, began 
to feel the stirrings of the new spirit that was 
abroad among the nations ; went to Germany, sat 
at the feet of Luther and Melanchthon at Wittenberg, 
caught the enthusiasm of the eloquent converted 
Franciscan monk, Francis Lambert, at Marburg, and 
returned to Scotland all aflame with zeal to preach 
the gospel. One afternoon a fire was prepared in 
front of the old college in St. Andrews, and this 
young man — only three-and-twenty years old — died 
at the stake as only one of God's heroes can die, and 
then history wrote, in ineffaceable characters, the 
name of the proto-martyr of the Scottish Reformation 
— Patrick Hamilton. 

As had been predicted, " the reik of Patrick Hamil- 
ton infected as many as it blew upon." From his 
ashes sprung men armed with the panoply of the Gos- 



6 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

pel. The hierarchy could burn men, but these very 
burnings kindled a light which could not be put out. 
A learned and eloquent evangelist arose in the person 
of George Wishart. When he preached, crowds hung 
upon his lips, spellbound, by the hour. If churches 
were shut against him, he preached in the streets, on 
dikes, or from city gates. His voice rang like a trum- 
pet through Scotland. It was one of the few truly 
brave and grand voices that have been heard in this 
world, but it was soon quenched in fire. On the 
gentle slope in front of the castle of St. Andrews, the 
sea sounding his requiem, George Wishart gloriously 
sealed his testimony with his blood. His persecutors, 
fearing that eloquent, clarion voice even in the flames, 
stopped his utterance by tightening a cord around his 
neck. Through the tapestried window of the castle, 
reclining on luxurious cushions, Cardinal Beaton wit- 
nessed the martyrdom, glutting his lecherous eyes 
with the agonies of this illustrious witness of the 
truth. 

The hierarchy, wielding the tremendous power 
which had been won for it by Hildebrand and Inno- 
cent III., bearing two swords, the temporal as well as 
the spiritual, insolently lording it over prince, priests, 
and people, and setting its face like a flint against all 
enlightenment of the intellect or soul, exercised a most 
cruel and heartless despotism. Its spirit was devil- 
ish. So long as its magnates could roll in wealth, so 
long as they could pamper their lazy bodies on the 
hard earnings of the poor, so long as without restraint 
or let or hindrance they could indulge their brutal 
lusts and passions, they were content ; but rather than 
lose an iota of their ill-gotten and ill-used power, 



JOHN KNOX. 7 

rather than have the people read the Word of God for 
themselves, they would see Scotland lighted from one 
end to the other with blazing stakes and fagots. 
They had the power, and they used it savagely. Their 
inquisition for those who dared to preach Christ was 
as keen and unerring as the scent of the bloodhound. 
Every voice that was raised in behalf of truth and 
righteousness was stifled in fire. Every kindling of 
light was trodden out in blood. To have the love of 
Christ in the heart, and to dare proclaim it, was swift 
and sure destruction. 

Whence, then, can deliverance come ? Where can 
be found a man strong enough and brave enough to 
grapple with this gigantic despotism, whose mighty 
power has been the steady growth of ages? Has God 
in his quiver one such arrow ? Has he, in all his 
kingdom, one such champion hero ? 

A tutor in the family of Douglass of Langniddrie, 
who had been a teacher of philosophy at St. Andrews, 
until, becoming disgusted with the jargon of scho- 
lasticism and the corruptions of papacy, he abandoned 
the one and renounced the other, became the devoted 
follower and chivalrous sword-bearer of George Wish- 
art. When Wishart was arrested, he advised the 
tutor to return to " his bairns," as he could no longer 
be of any service to him. Very reluctantly, and only 
after earnest remonstrances, the tutor followed this 
advice. Besides teaching the classics, he exercised 
his pupils daily in the Holy Scriptures and indoctri- 
nated them theologically by catechetical instruction, 
and at stated intervals these catechisings were public. 

The times were now fraught with momentous 
issues, and events big with the destinies of peoples 



8 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

crowded thick upon each other. A few months only 
after the day upon which Cardinal Beaton, lounging 
on his velvet cushions, had witnessed from his window 
in the castle, with undisguised satisfaction, the burn- 
ing of Wishart, his own lifeless body, covered with 
the gaping wounds of assassins' daggers, was hung as 
a public spectacle from that identical window. 

The tutor of Douglass, together with his pupils, 
took refuge in the castle of St. Andrews, which was 
then held by the enemies of the late cardinal. Here 
he was soon recognized as one who was eminently 
fitted to become the teacher and leader of men and of 
princes, rather than to be the tutor of boys. When 
the judgment of his friends in this regard was 
solemnly announced to him, and he was adjured to 
undertake the work of the ministry, he burst into a 
flood of tears, shut himself in his chamber, and for 
days was overwhelmed with the profoundest grief. 
Through the importunity of friends, and partly through 
the impertinence of a certain champion of the papacy, 
he was at length constrained to enter the pulpit in 
defence of the truth. It was a memorable day in 
Scottish history when he first preached in the parish 
church at St. Andrews. Brave men held their breath 
as they listened to his bold and sweeping utterances. 
Such preaching had not been heard in Scotland for 
ages. " Others hewed the branches 6f the papistry, 
but he struck at the root." Some rejoiced and took 
courage, some doubted, some hoped, some feared, 
many were furious, but all felt that there was a new 
power in the world, while a few chosen spirits recog- 
nized John Knox as the ordained champion and leader 
of the revolution then beginning in Scotland. 



JOHN KNOX. 9 

By the aid of French forces the castle of St. An- 
drews was reduced, Knox was taken prisoner, was 
loaded with chains and confined as a galley-slave. 
Through hardship, exposure, and sickness his body 
was reduced to a skeleton, but his spirit remained in- 
vincible. Once the galley on which he was confined 
came in sight of St. Andrews, and the spires of the 
city being pointed out to him, he was asked if he knew 
the place. With kindling eye he replied : " Yes, I 
know it well, for I see the steeple of that place where 
God first opened my mouth in public to his glory, and 
I am fully persuaded, how weak soever I now appear, 
that I shall not depart this life till that my tongue 
shall glorify his godly name in the same place." We 
admire the indomitable spirit of Julius Caesar, who 
threatened to their faces to crucify the pirates who 
held him in their power as a prisoner ; but these 
words of Knox, in the condition in which he then 
was, breathe a grander courage than that of Julius 
Caesar. 

Released from the galleys, he spent five years in 
England as an asylum from persecution, and as a 
preacher in Berwick and New Castle he was " mighty 
in word"; as Chaplain to Edward VI. he " stood 
before kings"; as a court preacher he was as plain 
and fearless and searching as Latimer ; as a theolo- 
gian he was consulted in regard to the Book of Com- 
mon Prayer and the Articles of Religion ; as a divine 
a brilliant line of promotion was open before him in 
the Anglican Church. Edward VI. proffered him a 
bishopric, and any dignity in the English Church was 
within his easy reach ; but he could accept none 
of these without the sacrifice of honest and well- 



IO OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

grounded convictions, and he therefore relinquished 
them all " for conscience' sake," and remained loyally 
and heroically true to these convictions in spite of 
gold and glory. He remained poor and untitled ; but 
is there a title on earth that would add any dignity to 
the simple name John Knox? 

When that " idolatrous Jezebel, mischievous Mary 
of the Spaniard's blood," came to the throne, Knox 
was compelled to flee from England. He went first 
to France, thence to Switzerland, and thence to Ger- 
many. His exile on the Continent forms an important 
segment of his life, for it threw him into contact with 
other Reformers from all parts of the world, and 
afforded him time for study and mature reflection. 
In the matter of the church at Frankfort, he had an 
opportunity of testifying publicly against the false 
and pernicious principles upon which the English 
Reformation was conducted, and, in consequence, he 
again proudly accepted exile rather than sacrifice or 
compromise a jot or tittle of his honest convictions. 
But the most important feature of this part of his life 
was his intercourse with John Calvin at Geneva. 
These two great men, whose influence has struck 
deeper into the currents of history than that of any 
other two men then living, entertained the most ardent 
esteem and friendship for teach other. Although 
Knox at this time was fifty years old, he pursued his 
studies at Geneva as diligently and enthusiastically 
as the merest tyro. This seems to have been the sun- 
niest part of his stormy life. He was engaged in con- 
genial studies and he was surrounded with congenial 
companions, yet he relinquished these studies and the 
society of congenial spirits in Switzerland, and re- 



JOHN KNOX. II 

turned to Scotland just so soon as he felt that he 
could be of service there. 

Back once more in his dear native land, he 
preached day and night, almost incessantly, and the 
"word grew mightily." No part of his life was more 
fruitful of great results than this brief sojourn in Scot- 
land at this time. His clear vision pierced through 
all disguises, shams, and compromises. His sharp, 
incisive judgment penetrated to the very core of the 
issue. To him all compliance with papal ceremonies 
was treason to the cause of truth. With a steady 
hand, that never missed its aim, he at one blow cut 
the last tie that bound the hesitating Reformers to 
the papacy. Thus early in the struggle he settled at 
once and forever the policy of the Reformation in 
Scotland. There were to be no compromises, no tem- 
porizing expediences. The work was to be genuine 
and thorough. At this time, when almost totally 
hidden from the world and unknown to it, he laid deep 
and immovable the foundations of the Scottish Refor- 
mation. His glowing earnestness fused the floating, 
incoherent elements of Reform into consistency, sym- 
metry, and strength. A master-hand was on the 
helm, and the noble ship, responding to his touch, as- 
sumed that course which she held triumphantly to the 
end. All ecclesiastical history since that day is a vin- 
dication of Knox's policy of the Reformation. It is 
the only true policy. 

Called to the pastorate of the English church in 
Geneva in 1556, Knox returned to Switzerland, where 
he remained for two years. While there his time 
was occupied in preaching, in pastoral labor, in work- 
ing upon the Geneva Bible, and in uttering his terrible 



12 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

" Blast of the Trumpet against the Monstrous Regi- 
ment of Women." 

In the meantime the queen regent of Scotland, 
" crafty, dissimulate, and false," having thrown off her 
cunningly woven disguises, took the first step toward 
the total extirpation of the Reformation in Scotland 
by summoning the Protestant preachers to stand their 
trials at Stirling. The queen regent, Hamilton, arch- 
bishop of St. Andrews, and Beaton, archbishop of 
Glasgow, notwithstanding bitter and rankling jeal- 
ousies among themselves, had joined hands for the 
purpose of crushing out Protestantism utterly. The 
plans were all matured. The plot was ripe. The 
mine was about to be sprung. At this supreme crisis 
the man whom God had been preparing, by a long and 
severe discipline, to be one of his ordained instru- 
ments in great achievements, steps suddenly upon the 
scene. Elijah was kept hidden in obscurity until he 
was to confront Ahab. Moses had a forty years' dis- 
cipline in the wilderness, and came from the deserts of 
Midian to stand before Pharaoh. Moses and Elijah 
were no more really chosen, ordained, and prepared 
ministers of God to act in great crises of the Church 
than was John Knox. In slavery and in exile his 
nature was seasoned and toughened to the texture of 
true heroism. In his public catechisings at Langnid- 
drie, he first trained to popular speaking that voice 
which afterward shook thrones and dashed to pieces 
the schemes and policies of kings, queens, princes, and 
nobles. 

On the invitation of certain noblemen he returned 
to Scotland " in the brunt of the battle." His appear- 
ance at Edinburgh, as sudden and as unexpected as 






JOHN KNOX. 13 

the appearance of Elijah at Samaria, created among 
his enemies as great a panic as though it had been the 
invasion of a hostile army. A good man in earnest, 
and with a good cause, is as " the chariots of Israel 
and the horsemen thereof/' mightier than armies and 
navies. Although under sentence of outlawry and 
liable at any hour to be arrested and executed, Knox 
resolved to stand with his brethren at Stirling and 
share their dangers and their fate, " by life, by death, 
or else by both, to glorify God." But from this 
threatened danger the Lord preserved both him and 
them. 

Amidst the throes of incipient civil war, and in veri- 
fication of his own prediction while a galley-slave, he 
returned to St. Andrews. The archbishop peremp- 
torily forbade his preaching in the cathedral, and 
threatened that in case he should dare to do so he 
would be shot down in the pulpit by the soldiers. In 
defiance of the archbishop's threat, and in spite of the 
remonstrances of his friends, he yet preached. 

This was the very crisis and pivot of the struggle. 
At Augsburg the princes saved the Lutheran Refor- 
mation, when the theologians would have compromised 
or surrendered. Knox, by his splendid intrepidity, 
saved the cause in Scotland, when nobles as brave as 
the bravest would have yielded to the demands of the 
archbishop. John Knox at St. Andrews is a figure as 
grand and towering as Martin Luther before the diet 
of Worms. 

The effects and results of Knox's preaching at this 
time were marvellous. In the three days at St. An- 
drews — the primal see of Scotland — popery was 
utterly overthrown, the Reformed worship was set up, 



14 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

images and pictures were torn from the churches, and 
monasteries were demolished. Knox's doctrine was 
as fatal to popish superstition as the fire which ran 
along the ground in the plague of the hail was fatal 
to the vegetable gods of Egypt. Wheresoever that 
doctrine went — and it ran very swiftly — popish power 
and popish idolatry, with all the paraphernalia thereof, 
melted before it. 

In less than a month after his triumphal appearance 
at St. Andrews, Knox's voice was ringing among the 
rafters of St. Giles's and of the Abbey church at Edin- 
burgh. Chosen at once as pastor of St. Giles's, he 
entered upon his labors in that church which his 
name has made historic throughout the world, and 
where " his tongue was more than a match for Mary's 
sceptre," and where so often " his voice in an hour 
put more life into men than six hundred trumpets 
could." 

During the trying vicissitudes of civil war, Knox 
was the one pillar of strength upon which Scotland 
leaned with her whole weight. Wise in counsel, 
utterly fearless in action, mighty in the resistless tor- 
rents of his eloquence, the nation turned to him in- 
stinctively as its God-given leader. With a price 
upon his head, with hired assassins waylaying his 
path, ever at the post of duty and of danger, " care- 
less of his own carcass," thinking only of his dear 
Scotland, in the darkest extremities of perilous times 
waking the expiring courage of heroes with the trum- 
pet peals of his eloquence, he fought the good fight 
bravely through, until within one year peace was pro- 
claimed, popery was abolished by act of Parliament, 
and a confession prepared principally by himself was 



JOHN KNOX. 15 

adopted. There never was a nobler fight or one 
that was more signal in its achievements. A complete 
revolution was accomplished, popery was abolished, 
the Reformed Church had a firm status and a com- 
plete Presbyterian organization. The battle was 
really gained. Henceforth the struggle was to main- 
tain the ground which had been won. 

A more dangerous power, however, than fire and 
sword was now to be encountered in the insidious in- 
fluence of a brilliant court, which had as its centre the 
beautiful and fascinating Mary Stuart. The eagle eye 
of Knox perceived at once the point of danger, and 
Mary, on the other hand, as soon discovered the one 
power which stood in the way of the accomplishment 
of her designs. Knox was summoned to Holyrood, 
and in a long conference Mary tried her best to intim- 
idate and awe him. She might as well have tried to 
shake Salisbury Crags with the breath of her nostrils. 

When the news of the massacre of the Protestants 
at Vassy in France reached Holyrood, Mary had a 
grand ball to celebrate the event. On the next Sab- 
bath, Knox thundered in St. Giles's against those who 
" were more exercised in fiddling and flinging 
than in reading or hearing God's most blessed Word, 
and those who danced as the Philistines their fathers 
danced, for the pleasure which they take in the dis- 
pleasure of God's people." Mary sent for Knox the 
next day. He retracted nothing, but told the queen 
to her face that her uncles, the Guises of France, 
" were enemies to God, and spared not to spill the 
blood of many innocents," and then let her under- 
stand very distinctly that " it was not his vocation to 
stand at her chamber door and to have no further 



l6 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

liberty, but to whisper his mind in her Grace's ear." 
That voice was for Scotland and the world. 

" He departed," as he tells us in his " Historic," 
" with a reasonable merry countenance." " He is not 
afraid ! " whispered the papists as he passed. Turn- 
ing upon them, he replied, " Why should the pleasing 
countenance of a gentilwoman affray me ? I have 
luiked on the faces of many angry men, and yet have 
not been affrayed above measure." That man could 
not be frightened. Next, Mary plied all her exquisite 
art to flatter him, but in this she succeeded no better. 

Times grew critical. Many of the nobles were 
proving recreant. Knox sacrificed some of his dear- 
est and sweetest friendships rather than yield an 
inch or an iota to the growing encroachments of the 
papacy. In his estimation one mass was worse for 
Scotland than a hostile army. The nobles were ready 
and anxious to compromise. Parliament was pliable 
and plastic in the hands of Mary. Knox alone stood 
in her way. He, therefore, must be silenced or put 
out of her way somehow. 

For the fifth time Knox was summoned to the pal- 
ace. In a torrent of tears and a tempest of passion, 
Mary stormed and railed at him. Carried beyond all 
bounds of prudence, she at last spitefully exclaimed : 
" What are you in this commonwealth ? " Grandly 
Knox replied: "A subject born within the same, 
madam ; and, albeit I am neither earl, lord, nor 
baron within it, yet has God made me — how abject 
soever I am in your eyes — a profitable member within 
the same ; yea, madam, to me it appertains no less to 
forewarn of such things as may hurt it, if I foresee 
them, than it doth to any of the nobility." 



JOHN KNOX. 17 

There is not in history a nobler answer. 

For writing a circular letter, which he was author- 
ized to do by the General Assembly when any exi- 
gency demanded such a measure, he was arraigned 
and tried for treason. He made a brave and able 
defence, and to the bitter disappointment and chagrin 
of Mary he was acquitted. The queen had learned 
that Knox could not be intimidated, neither could he 
be flattered, or cajoled, or wheedled into compliance 
with her wishes. She had also discovered that she 
could not have him beheaded for treason in Scotland. 

She next entered into a conspiracy by which, 
through a wholesale slaughter of the Protestants, she 
hoped to get rid of her enemy. A league had been 
formed between the Pope and the Guises, by which 
Protestantism in France was to be utterly rooted out 
by force. To this infernal bond Mary set her fair and 
jewelled hand, and that brought Scotland within the 
fatal scope of the league. But there is a wheel within 
a wheel. A jealousy between Mary and her husband, 
Darnley, and the consequent murder of Rizzio, turned 
the fierce currents of history into other channels, and 
Scotland was saved from the horrors of a massacre 
such as that of St. Bartholomew. 

Under the regency of Murray the Church had peace, 
and the revolution of 1560 was ratified. There was 
still a strong and vicious papal party, but by firmness 
the regent kept down all insurrections until he was 
taken off by the hand of an assassin. 

Under the regency of Lennox there was civil war. 
The castle of Edinburgh was held at this time by the 
queen's forces, and these forces were under the com- 
mand of the apostate Kirkcaldy of Grange. Over- 



l8 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

whelmed with grief on account of the death of his 
beloved Murray, Knox had been smitten with apo- 
plexy, and was no longer able to walk to church or to 
ascend the pulpit without help. Yet he was as watch- 
ful and fearless as ever. Not liking the reports 
which he received of the preaching in St. Giles's, 
Grange came down to church one morning with a 
band of desperate men to intimidate the preacher. 
The old man rightly interpreted their presence as a 
threat, and, his infirmities forgotten for the time 
being, his wonted fires flamed forth again ; and level- 
ing his thunders right at Grange, he made the very 
shingles on St. Giles's tremble. 

His friends now feared for his life. The castle was 
full of Hamiltons, all thirsting for his blood. He was 
shot at through the window of his own house. But 
he was totally unconscious of fear. At length he was 
prevailed upon to leave Edinburgh, on the ground 
that his longer continuance there would involve the 
lives of his friends. He went to St. Andrews. 

James Melville, who was then a student, has pre- 
served for us in his diary a very graphic account of 
the habits and appearance of the great Reformer at 
this time. He brings the scenes vividly before us. 
We see the tottering old man walking and sitting in 
the yard at St. Salvator's College, calling the students 
around him, exhorting them to be diligent in their 
studies, to know God and his work in the country, 
and to stand by the " gutle cause." With his heart 
yet young, we find him encouraging the students by 
his presence at a play which was acted by them on 
the occasion of the marriage of one of their regents. 
We see him in his great weakness creeping to the 



JOHN KNOX. 19 

kirk, "slowly and warily," with a " furring of 
martics about his neck/' a staff in one hand and 
his trusty servant supporting him on the other side. 
We see him lifted bodily by two men into the pulpit, 
and then leaning wearily upon it for support. We 
hear his tremulous, faltering, uncertain tones as he 
opens the text ; we listen as he " proceeds moderately 
for the space of half an hour "; and then entering 
upon his application, he warms and glows until he 
makes the students " grew and tremble so that they 
cannot hold their pens to write," and kindling with 
the rush and momentum of his thought, the spirit 
triumphing over the half dead body, we see the shriv- 
elled limbs become instinct with life and energy, 
and the whole man " so active and vigorous that he 
is like to ding the pulpit in blads and flie out of it." 

Providence opened up the way for his return to 
Edinburgh before he died. He returned according to 
an earnest invitation, and on the express and emphatic 
condition that he " should not temper his tongue or 
cease to speak against the men of the castle." 

Once more he is back in his old pulpit, but his voice 
can no longer fill St. Giles's. To accommodate him 
with a smaller audience chamber, the congregation 
prepared for him the Tolbooth church. While these 
preparations are in progress, I invite you to accom- 
pany me for a little while to the Continent. 

When Knox was driven out of England by " Bloody 
Mary," he found a grateful asylum in France, where 
he formed many intimate and ardent friendships. 
Perilous times cement kindred spirits. 

While Luther was lecturing on philosophy at Wit- 
tenberg, the venerable Lefevre in France, through the 



20 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

study of the Epistles of Paul, had reached the central 
doctrine of the Reformation, justification by faith. 
Briconnet, bishop of Meaux, occupied the same theo- 
logical ground. When, therefore, this doctrine was 
proclaimed in Germany, France responded to it with 
a quick and live sympathy. The leaven of the Gospel 
spread rapidly from the professor in her great univer- 
sity to the peasant in the furrow — from the prince by 
the throne to the mechanic at his bench. Margaret 
of Valois, queen of Navarre, the witty, the accom- 
plished, and the beloved sister of Francis I., was in 
full sympathy with the Reformation, and for some 
time she carried the sympathies of her royal brother 
with her. But it was not to be expected that the 
enemies of the Gospel would quietly witness these 
rapid conquests without putting men to death, " for 
the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus 
Christ." As in other countries, so in France, perse- 
cutions raged fiercely. Loaded with every oppro- 
brious epithet, charged with crimes as atrocious as 
those which were laid against the early Christians by 
the pagans, subjected to tortures as refined in cruelty 
as those of Nero, in spite of fire and steel and the 
baiangoir, the noble band of martyrs and confessors 
in France heroically maintained their course, singing 
psalms at the stake, " glorifying God in the fires," 
bearing their testimony to the truth, until their en- 
raged persecutors, in order to silence them, cut out 
their tongues and flung them, yet quivering, into their 
faces. In the sixteenth century, France was the 
bloodiest theatre of persecution of any country in 
Europe save one. 

Yet the blood of these glorious martyrs only ferti- 



JOHN KNOX. 21 

lized the soil for the propagation of the truth. The 
smoke of their sacrifice disseminated the principles 
for which they died. The Scriptures were translated 
into French by Olivetan, the relative of Calvin. The 
Psalms, turned into metre by Marot, " the poet of 
princes and the prince of poets," were sung at the 
court and on the fashionable promenade of Paris, and 
were hummed even by King Francis himself. The 
printing-press was busy. It teemed with books and 
tracts. Tracts were scattered like autumnal leaves in 
the streets of Paris. 

A placard against the mass was one night posted 
on the walls of the principal cities throughout the 
kingdom, and even on the king's own door. Francis 
was infuriated when he thought of the insult against 
his own majesty, and was alarmed and horrified when 
he thought of the insult against the holy sacrament. 
As a public expiation for this latter offence, he ordered 
a solemn procession, which in its object, its spirit, its 
incidents, its grotesque blending of extreme devout- 
ness with savage ferocity, is one of the most unique 
in history. Everything possible was done to make 
it the most imposing spectacle of the kind that had 
ever been witnessed in France. The highest digni- 
taries in Church and State, emblazoned with the in- 
signia of their offices, adorned the ranks. Every 
shrine in Paris was emptied of relics, and the proces- 
sion was graced with all the treasures of the reliquary, 
from the crown of thorns to the beard of St. Louis. 
Under a canopy borne by princes of the blood, the 
host was carried by the bishop of Paris. In six public 
places on the route of the procession as many altars 
were erected for the repose of the sacrament, and be- 



22 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

side each of these altars there was a scaffold, a pile 
of fagots, and an iron beam, so arranged by means of 
pivot and pulley that it could be raised and lowered 
at will. When the head of the procession reached 
these altars successively, a Reformer was tied to the 
end of the beam, and by a seesaw movement was 
plunged again and again into a bath of fire. These 
awful dippings were so timed that, the ligaments be- 
ing consumed, the victim dropped into the blazing 
pile just as the king was devoutly kneeling at the 
altar in adoration of the host. The misguided, mad- 
dened populace bowed down in the streets to worship 
bits of wood and dead men's bones, while, at the 
same time, they morbidly luxuriated in the exquisite 
tortures of those " of whom the world was not 
worthy." Strange extremes meet in human nature ! 
This spectacle engendered a morbid taste for public 
slaughterings, which has many times since converted 
France into an Aceldama, a field of blood, and which 
has had as its legitimate results the guillotine of the 
Revolution and the awful butcheries of the Commune, 
three centuries later. 

A French refugee in Basle heard with keenest pain 
reports of the awful sufferings of his friends in 
France, and his indignation was kindled to a white 
heat when the persecutors, with the king at their head, 
attempted to palliate the atrocities which they were 
committing by publishing the basest calumnies 
against both the opinions and practices of the Re- 
formers. He determined that these traduced and 
persecuted people of God should be vindicated. To 
this end he wrote a little book,, and in a bold and 
immortal address dedicated it to Francis I. This 



JOHN KNOX. 23 

was the first edition of what the world now knows as 
Calvin's Institutes, the noblest apology ever penned 
by an uninspired man. 

The Institutes of Calvin at once gave consistency 
and symmetry to the Reformed Church in France ; 
and, in spite of sceptre and sword, cemented by the 
blood of martyrs, it grew strong, until it published its 
own apology, in its doctrines as crystallized in the 
Confession of 1559. At this time, a single step in the 
right direction would have emancipated France from 
the thraldom of the papacy, but she knew not " the 
time of her visitation." Behind the throne, upon 
which sat a poor, weak, sickly, uxorious boy yet in his 
teens, stood the Lorraines, with the Duke of Guise at 
their head, and they with consummate ability and 
craft and utter unscrupulousness wielded the powers 
of the government for the suppression of the gospel. 
It was an ominous conjunction — the gloomy despot, 
Philip II., on the throne of Spain, the Duke of Guise 
behind the throne of France, with Mary Stuart, niece 
of Guise, as wife of the puppet king, and the mother 
of Mary and sister of Guise as queen regent of Scot- 
land. It was a conjunction which portended evil, and 
it brought upon France " a day of wasteness and deso- 
lation," a time when God's people " were scattered 
and peeled, meted out and trodden under foot "; a 
time when every sanctuary of safety and of right was 
ruthlessly invaded and wantonly desecrated ; a time 
when clustering villages of peaceful, thrifty, God- 
fearing citizens were razed as though they had been 
dens of wild beasts, and with an overthrow so utter 
and complete that not a stone was left to mark the 
spot where they had been, nor a human being to tell 



24 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

the story of their destruction ; a time when rivers in 
their courses were dammed up with the bodies of 
slaughtered saints ; a time when the lords and ladies 
of the court regaled themselves daiiy, amidst pleas- 
antry and repartee, by witnessing, from the windows 
of the palace, the mortal agonies of tortured martyrs ; 
a time when the atmosphere of the court became pes- 
tilential from the stench of blood ; a, time when little 
children at their plays talked about and familiarized 
themselves with the thought of death by martyrdom. 

The massacre of Vassy, in open and utter defiance 
of the edict of January, which has been called the 
Magna Charta of religious liberty in France, demon- 
strated to the Protestants the absolute necessity of 
self-defence. Longer non-resistance would be sui- 
cidal. They rallied, therefore, under the standards 
of their renowned leaders Conde and the Colignis. 
Jeanne d'Albret, queen of Navarre, put her young 
son Henry into the ranks as a soldier, and pawned 
her crown jewels to raise money for the war. Char., 
lotte de Laval, urging her husband, the Admiral 
Coligni, to take up arms in defence of the suffering 
Protestants, was asked by him : " Are you prepared 
to endure confiscation, flight, exile, shame, nakedness, 
and hunger, and what is worse, to suffer all this in 
your children ? Are you prepared to see your husband 
branded as a rebel and dragged to a scaffold, while 
your children, disgraced and ruined, are begging their 
bread at the hands of their enemies ? I give you 
eight days to reflect upon it ; and when you shall be 
prepared for such reverses, I will be ready to set for- 
ward and perish with you and our friends." Char- 
lotte instantly replied : " The eight days are already 



JOHN KNOX. 25 

expired. Go, sir, where your duty calls you. Heaven 
will not give the victory to our enemies. In the name 
of God I call upon you to resist no longer, but save 
our brethren or die in the attempt." The Admiral 
was in his saddle the next morning. There were 
heroines as well as heroes in those days. 

The baleful theory of uniformity — the theory that 
there was room in France for only one Church, and 
that the Roman Catholic Church — divided the nation 
into two hostile camps and plunged the country into 
a series of civil wars. Spain sympathized with and 
aided the Catholic party; Philip II. urging upon France 
the policy of extermination which he was carrying out 
in the Netherlands. England and the Netherlands 
sympathized with and aided the Protestants, the latter 
country sending her immortal Prince of Orange to 
take the field. It was a struggle great and memo- 
rable, both in the principles at stake and in the distin- 
guished leaders on each side. It was the genius, 
heroism, and godly enthusiasm of the Bourbon and the 
Coligni on the one side, and the Machiavellian craft, 
intrigue, and devilish hate of the Guise and the 
Medici on the other. 

Wars follow each other in rapid succession. 
"Blood toucheth blood." The fields Dreux, St. 
Denis, Jarnac, Moncontour, and Arnay le Due ren- 
dered the valor of the Huguenots historic. Conde 
and D'Andelot are dead on the field. Then there 
comes a lull in the din of battle, a short respite from 
war. Negotiations are going on concerning a mar- 
riage alliance which is to unite the two parties and 
give lasting peace to France. The Admiral Coligni 
is invited to the court, and has repeated interviews 



26 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

with the young king Charles IX. He urges upon 
Charles the policy of uniting France and the Nether- 
lands in an alliance against Spain. Catharine, the 
queen-mother, on the other hand, used all the witchery 
of her power to thwart that policy and to poison the 
mind of Charles against Coligni. 

One loves to dream of the results that would have 
attended the policy of Coligni. France Protestant 
and in alliance with the Netherlands, and the allied 
armies of the two countries led by such men as the 
Prince of Orange and Coligni ! What a different his- 
tory of Europe would we be reading to-day, and what 
a different map of Europe would our children be 
studying to-day ! 

The Admiral Coligni was at this time the head and 
soul of the Huguenot party. He had gained the ear, 
and by his frank, high-toned Christian chivalry was 
rapidly winning the heart, of King Charles. The 
queen-mother, her son the duke of Anjou, and the 
young duke of Guise took the alarm. Charles must 
be rescued from the potent influence of Coligni at all 
hazards, and these three spirits balk at nothing that 
will further their plans. They resolved upon the 
assassination of the admiral, but through unsteadiness 
of aim the assassin only succeeded in severely wound- 
ing him. The conspirators had hoped to destroy the 
Huguenots by striking down their illustrious chief- 
tain. In this they were foiled. They then deter- 
mined to compass their ends by a general massacre, 
which was to begin with the Huguenot nobility then 
assembled in Paris on the occasion of the marriage of 
the gallant Henry of Navarre with the sister of 
Charles IX. The beginning being made in Paris, 



JOHN KNOX. 27 

the massacre was to become general throughout the 
provinces. 

Catharine, with all the magic power which she 
exercised over her children, and with all her con- 
summate Medicean art, began to work upon the king 
to wrest from him the fatal order. She appealed, in 
turn, to every motive and passion. With exquisite 
skill she touched every spring of his being — his fears, 
his suspicions, his pride, his vindictiveness, his vanity, 
his jealousy, until,, maddened, frenzied, in a delirium 
of rage, vexation, and mortification, he exclaimed, with 
a horrible oath, that since they thought it right to kill 
the admiral, he was determined that every Huguenot 
in France should perish with him, so that not one 
should be left to reproach him with the crime. 

This happened an hour before midnight. Arrange- 
ments were instantly completed for the murdering to 
begin the next morning. The signal was to have 
been given from the great bell of the Palace of Justic'. 
at daybreak, but Catharine, in her impatience and 
nervousness, ordered the tocsin to be sounded from 
the belfry of a neighboring church an hour and a 
half earlier. Then Catharine and her two sons, 
Charles IX. and the duke of Anjou, stole to a window 
of the Louvre and tremblingly peered into the dark 
and quiet streets. All was as still as death until they 
were startled by a single pistol shot. A sudden spasm 
of remorse seized the guilty trio, and they sent word 
to Guise that he should proceed no further with the 
massacre. But it was too late. Guise, with his leash 
of sleuth-hounds, was already well on his way to the 
hotel of the admiral. The soldiers who had been 
stationed to guard the hotel betrayed their trust, and 



28 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

became the eager accomplices of the murderers. 
Awakened by the noise at the gate and in the halls, 
Coligni, yet weak from wounds, had risen from his 
bed, had thrown around him his dressing-gown and 
was sitting in an arm-chair when the assassins en- 
tered. He did not move. There was not the tremor 
of a muscle. There was not the quiver of a nerve. 
He looked into the faces of those desperadoes as 
calmly as though they had been his children coming 
to kiss him good-night, and regarded their naked 
swords and daggers with as much composure as 
though they had been the arms of his mother ex- 
tended to embrace him. One of the most desperate 
of these desperate men was wont to say that he had 
never seen man meet death with such constancy and 
firmness. 

The assassins made swift and thorough work of it. 
In the court below, Guise and a few of kindred spirit 
sat upon their horses. Up from the horsemen comes 
the eager, impatient cry : " Have you done it ?" " It 
is over/' was the reply that dropped from the window. 
Again comes up the cry : " But here is Guise, who 
will not believe it unless he sees it with his own eyes. 
Throw him out of the window." And the gashed 
body of the best and the greatest man then in France 
was thrown down upon the pavement of the court 
beneath as though it had been the carcass of a dog. 
Not yet satisfied, Guise dismounted, stooped down, 
and in the darkness of the early morning peered into 
the face of the dead hero. The face being bloody 
beyond recognition, Guise coolly took his handker- 
chief from his pocket, wiped the blood from the 
features, and again scrutinized them narrowly. " Tis 



JOHN KNOX. 29 

he. I know him," he said, and as he rose gave the 
body a kick, then vaulting into his saddle, and shout- 
ing, " Courage, soldiers ! We have made a good be- 
ginning. Now for the others ! " he galloped from the 
court-yard. 

The blood of the great, the good, the immortal 
Coligni was the first that was shed in this awful 
massacre. His body was afterward subjected to 
every indignity and insult which satanic malignity 
and ingenuity could suggest. 

The preparations and arrangements for the mas- 
sacre were extensive, elaborate, and complete. They 
were made by those who had a genius for laying 
snares and weaving nets and setting traps and achiev- 
ing success in murder on a grand scale. Ever since 
the great procession of expiation under Francis I., 
the people of France had been undergoing a continu- 
ous education which was fitting them to become ac- 
tors in tragedies of horror. The inflammable popu- 
lace of Paris were as ripe for a carnival of blood as 
tinder is ready for a spark. The houses of the Hu- 
guenots were all marked. The papists had as a 
badge a strip of white linen round the arm and a 
white cross in the cap, while in the windows of their 
houses flambeaux were burning for the double purpose 
of designation and of giving light to the murderers in 
the streets. The signal was sounded from every 
steeple in the city. " Kill ! kill ! Down with the 
Huguenots ! Down with the Huguenots ! " were the 
watchwords. Suddenly Paris was converted into hell. 
The halls and staircases of the Louvre were slippery 
with the best and noblest blood in France. There 
was no more pity for the toothless babe than for the 



$0 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS, 

bearded man. Dead and dying bodies rained from 
the windows. In some cases blood reached the shoe- 
latchets. But I draw a veil over the horrible, sicken- 
ing details. 

Fast as couriers could carry the news, the hellish 
contagion spread throughout the provinces. In each 
city and town and village the scenes of Paris were 
repeated, until, according to some estimates, as many 
as one hundred thousand were slain. And certainly it 
will not lessen our sad interest in this awful tragedy to 
know that the victims of It were Presbyterians in 
doctrine, worship, and discipline. 

When the news reached Spain, Philip II. was 
beside himself with joy. He regarded the massacre 
as the highest possible exemplification of Christian 
virtue. At Rome the Pope and cardinals went in 
state to church and had Te Deums sung and masses 
said in honor of the event ; and genius, in the person 
of Vasari, was employed to perpetuate the memory of 
it by a painting on the walls of the Sistine chapel, and 
there, on those walls, stands that painting, the damn- 
ing evidence of the Pope's complicity in the massacre. 
A medal was also struck to commemorate the event. 
But when the news reached England the court went 
into mourning, and Queen Elizabeth did herself and 
her nation immortal honor by administering a sting- 
ing rebuke to Charles IX. through his ambassador. 
When the news reached Edinburgh, Knox was over- 
whelmed with grief, because many of his personal 
friends had been slaughtered. Once more the old 
man was carried to the pulpit and lifted into it, and 
then he poured out the red-hot lava of his indignation 
against the perpetrators of the hellish outrage, and 



JOHN KNOX. 31 

denounced the judgments of heaven against the cruel 
murderer and false traitor, the king of France, con- 
signing him to the eternal " execrations of posterity 
to come/' This was one of his last public services. 
After this he preached the installation sermon of 
his colleague and successor in the Tolbooth church. 
That was his last public service. 

In devout meditation, in hearing God's word, in 
joyously entertaining his friends — for Knox was emi- 
nently a genial and social man — in counseling his 
session and his colleague, in trying to reclaim Kirk- 
caldy of Grange, in solemnly admonishing Morton, 
who was about becoming regent, in taking affection- 
ate leave of relatives and friends — the few days that 
remained to him on earth were occupied. With ex- 
clamations and ejaculations dripping with the very 
myrrh of the Gospel constantly on his lips, he lay 
waiting till " God's work was done." With a clear 
intellect and an unclouded spirit he triumphantly 
ended his " long and paneful battel." 

In the middle of a paved street in Edinburgh the 
passer-by reads, upon a square stone, this inscription : 

J. K. 
iS72. 

Beneath that spot, over which now trundles the 
commerce of a great city, were once laid the remains 
of him who " never feared the face of man." 

He has been dead these three hundred years. 
During all this time history has been busy with his 
life and his character. These have been fiercely 
assailed and eloquently defended. For three cen- 



32 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

turies his work has been speaking for him with ever- 
increasing volume of meaning and of eloquence. He 
needs no other monument. He needs no other 
apology. 

He is charged with rudeness and coarseness toward 
the elegant lady, Mary Stuart, queen of Scots, but 
there is absolutely nothing in the records to justify 
such a charge. He was firm — firm as the Pentland 
Hills ; he was inflexible — inflexible as the fully-devel- 
oped, storm-strengthened oak ; and having learned, 
as he tells us, from Isaiah and Jeremiah, to "call 
wickedness by its own terms, a fig a fig, and a spade a 
spade/' he did speak in all plainness as both his " vo- 
cation and conscience craved, " but always with dig- 
nity and courtesy, nevertheless. With some soft sen- 
timentalists it is an unpardonable offence that he 
should have made Mary weep and " shed never a tear 
himself." Hear his own defence : " Madam, in God's 
presence I speak ; I never delighted in the weeping 
of any of God's creatures — yea, I can scarcely abide 
the tears of my own boys, whom my own hand cor- 
rects, much less can I rejoice in your Majesty's weep- 
ing ; but seeing that I have offered you no just occa- 
sion to be offended, but have spoken the truth, as my 
vocation craves of me, I must sustain, albeit unwill- 
ingly, your Majesty's tears rather than I dare hurt 
my conscience or betray my commonwealth through 
my silence." If that be coarseness, perpetual thanks- 
givings to God that John Knox had the grace to use 
it! " Better," said Regent Morton, " that women 
weep than that bearded men be forced to weep." 

But I submit that such a man as this is not to be 
measured by the rules of etiquette or by the laws of 



JOHN KNOX. 33 

gallantry. Knox had more serious business than 
playing the courtier. Every time that he stood be- 
fore Queen Mary he carried the spiritual destiny of 
millions on the tip of his tongue. He was there to 
defend truth which had taken hold of every fibre of 
his being. He might have pleased Mary, but by 
doing so he would have betrayed the cause of Prot- 
estantism in Scotland, and that would have involved 
the cause of Protestantism in England. So long 
as Elijah the Tishbite and John the Baptist need 
no apology for coarseness, John Knox shall need 
none. 

But suppose he had faults ? They are but specks 
on the surface of the sun. The sun makes the earth 
rich in all beauty and fertility, notwithstanding, 
and Knox made Scotland " blossom as the rose." 
" Knox is the one Scotchman to whom of all others 
his country and the world owe a debt," says the weird 
hero-worshipper, Thomas Carlyle. 

" It was not for nothing that John Knox had for 
ten years preached in Edinburgh and his words had 
been echoed from a thousand pulpits. His was the 
voice which taught the peasant of the Lothians that 
he was a freeman, the equal in the sight of God with 
the proudest peer or prelate that had trampled on his 
forefathers. The murders, the adulteries, the Both- 
well scandals, and other monstrous games which had 
been played before Heaven there since the return of 
the queen from France, had been like whirlwinds fan- 
ning the fires of the new teaching. Princes and lords 
only might have noble blood, but every Scot had a 
soul to be saved, a conscience to be outraged by these 
enormous doings, and an arm to strike with in revenge 



34 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

for them. Elsewhere the plebeian element of nations 
had risen to power through the arts and industries 
which make men rich ; the commons of Scotland 
were sons of their religion, while the nobles were 
splitting into factions, taking securities for their for- 
tunes, or entangling themselves in political intrigues ; 
the tradesmen, the mechanics, the poor tillers of the 
soil, had sprung suddenly into consciousness with 
spiritual convictions for which they were prepared to 
live or die. The fear of God in them left no room 
for the fear of any other thing, and in the very fierce 
intolerance which Knox had poured into their veins 
they had become a force in the state. The poor 
clay which, a generation earlier, the haughty baron 
would have trodden into slime, had been heated red 
hot in the furnace of a new faith."* Thus historians 
who have no sympathy with Knox's creed are con- 
strained to recognize the inestimable value of his 
work and his teachings. Such services as he rendered 
to his country and to the world might condone for a 
little rudeness in the presence of a woman whom he 
believed to be, and whom history has adjudged to be, 
a murderess. 

He is charged, moreover, with intolerance. But of 
what was he intolerant ? Of error and corruption 
that were rank and pestiferous, of tyranny which 
treated the soul of man as a mere plaything of kings, 
lords, and prelates. He did well to be intolerant. 
He could have done nothing less, and have remained 
a true man. His intolerance consisted simply in his 
carrying out unflinchingly the only principles upon 
which a reformation worthy of the name could have 
been achieved in Scotland. 

* Froude. 



JOHN KNOX. 35 

His Presbyterianism was not derived from Geneva. 
He did not learn it from John Calvin. He found it 
where Ulrich Zwinglius found his Presbyterianism — 
in his Greek Testament. He made the discovery 
when he was teaching his " bairns " at Langniddrie. 
His views on this subject were fully matured when he 
was in England, before he had ever seen Calvin. And 
so strong were his convictions on the subject that -the 
offer of a bishopric could not tempt him to modify his 
policy in the slightest. He and those who aided him 
in preparing the Book of Discipline, as Row said, 
" took not their example from any Kirk in the world — 
no, not from Geneva — but drew their plan from the 
sacred Scriptures/' Knox, therefore, could make no 
compromise with popery without a total betrayal of 
principles in defence of which he counted not his life 
dear unto him. 

And this Presbyterian system of doctrine and 
government is the strongest and safest defence against 
popery that has ever been reared. Knox detected 
the weakness of the English Reformation. Events 
have amply justified his fears and vindicated his 
views. The Anglican Church has, in a measure at 
least, become a training-camp for the papacy. In the 
great reaction against the Reformation which was 
directed by the Jesuits, Presbyterianism saved Prot- 
estantism. It formed a bulwark against which the 
maddened waves beat and dashed and broke in vain. 
Had Knox faltered in Scotland, Protestantism would 
have been swept from England as the whirlwind 
sweeps dry leaves from the highway. 

The time may not be far distant when the decisive 
struggle will be between the armies of Antichrist and 



$6 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

the compact and serried hosts of this ourbeloved Pres- 
byterianism. Contemplating, therefore, the life of 
Knox, one of the grandest ever lived on this foot- 
Stool of God, and catching inspiration and enthu- 
siasm from our theme, let us close up our ranks and 
stand firm, ready to repel assault or to charge to 
victory. 



II. 

PRESBYTERIANISM IN THE UNITED 
STATES FROM THE ADOPTION OF 
THE FORM OF GOVERNMENT TO THE 
PRESENT TIME. 



II. 



PRESBYTERIANISM IN THE UNITED 
STATES FROM THE ADOPTION OF 
THE FORM OF GOVERNMENT TO THE 
PRESENT TIME.* 

* American Independence has been achieved. The 
Colonies have taken their place as free and inde- 
pendent states among the nations of the earth. In 
bringing about this, the most momentous political 
event of the last century, the ministry and laity of 
the Presbyterian Church bore an essential and a con- 
spicuous part. These men were, the descendants of 
the Huguenots whose blood, shed in the cause of 
religious freedom, had baptized almost every acre of 
France ; of the Dutch, who, under William the Silent, 
had struggled and fought against civil and religious 
despotism amidst the dikes of Holland ; of the Scotch- 
men who signed the Covenant with the warm blood 
of their veins, and who had fought to the death under 
the blue banner of that Covenant ; of the heroes 
whose valor at Londonderry turned the scale in favor 
of the Prince of Orange and secured the Protes- 
tant succession in England — sons of the women who, 
during that memorable siege, carried ammunition to 
the soldiers, and in the crisis of the assault sprang 

*At the Centennial Celebration in Philadelphia, June, 1876, by 
appointment of the General Assembly. 

39 



40 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

to the breach, hurled back the assailants, and turned 
the tide of battle in the critical, imminent moment of 
the conflict. 

These were not the men to be dazzled by specious 
pretexts, or to stand nicely balancing arguments of 
expediency, when issues touching human freedom 
were at stake. These were not the men to barter 
away their birthright for pottage. They who had 
endured so much in the cause of freedom in the Old 
World, who, for its sake, had left all and braved the 
perils of the ocean to seek a refuge in the forests of 
an unbroken wilderness, were not the men tamely to 
submit their necks to the yoke, how smoothly soever 
it might be fitted for them by the deft hands of king, 
Church, or Parliament. Consequently, the Presby- 
terians in the Colonies were almost to a man, and to 
a woman, patriots " indeed, in whom there was no 
guile." 

In a Presbyterian community not far from the spot 
where the first blood of the Revolution was shed, in 
a Presbyterian convention which had for its presid- 
ing officer a ruling elder, was framed and promul- 
gated the Mecklenburg Declaration, which embodied 
the spirit and the principles of the Declaration of 
Independence, and which antedates that document 
by the space of a year and more ; and even earlier 
than this, within the bounds of old Redstone Presby- 
tery, the " Westmoreland Declaration," was made at 
Hanna's Town, in Western Pennsylvania. 

None in all the land better understood the nature 
of the struggle, or more thoroughly appreciated the 
importance of the issue, than those men. They saw 
in the impending conflict more than a tax on tea or 



PRESBYTERIANISM IN THE UNITED STATES. 41 

a penny stamp on paper — more even than ' - taxation 
without representation." In addition to political 
tyranny they perceived the ominous shadow of 
spiritual despotism, which threatened to darken the 
land to which they had fled as an asylum, and they 
esteemed their fortunes and their lives a cheap 
sacrifice at which to purchase for their posterity in 
succeeding generations the blessings of religious 
freedom. 

Into the struggle, therefore, they threw themselves 
heart and soul. With enthusiastic devotion, they put 
at the service of their country the last penny of their 
substance and the last drop of their blood. Wherever 
a Presbyterian Church was planted, wherever the 
Westminster Confession of Faith found adherents, 
wherever the Presbyterian polity was loved and 
honored, there intelligent and profound convictions 
in regard to civil and religious liberty were developed 
as naturally as the oak grows from the acorn, and 
there, when the crisis came, strong arms and stout 
hearts formed an invulnerable bulwark for the cause 
of human freedom. As the Spartan defended his 
shield, as the Roman legions fought for their eagles, 
as a chivalrous knight leaped to the rescue of his 
sweetheart, so our Presbyterian ancestors, with a 
prodigal valor and an unquenchable ardor, sprang to 
the defence of their sacred rights. 

An adequate history of their services, their sacri- 
fices and their sufferings has never been written, and, 
alas ! never can be written now. No monuments 
have been left from which such a history can be com- 
piled. In the pulpit, in the halls of the provincial 
and the Continental Congresses, in the army as 



42 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

chaplains and as soldiers, the ministers rendered 
invaluable service by their eloquence, their wisdom, 
their learning, their courage, and their example, while 
the laity took into the ranks a heroism as stalwart 
as that of the Ironsides of Cromwell. Presbyterian 
blood from shoeless feet tracked the snow at Valley 
Forge. From the Schuylkill to the Chartiers pulpits 
rang with utterances which were at once scriptural 
and patriotic, and which were so sound and fearless 
and inspiring that they deserve to take rank in the 
series of kindred testimonies in the Scottish Church 
borne by such men as Knox, Buchanan, Rutherford, 
Brown of Wamphry, Cargill, and Renwick. These 
utterances embodied principles which, emanating 
from the republic of Geneva, consecrated by the 
holiest blood of Scotland, sheltered and defended by 
more than Spartan heroism and endurance in the 
forests of America, now underlie the institutions of 
every free government on the face of the whole earth. 
Republicanism is Presbyterianism in the state ; so 
that in the victory of our revolutionary forefathers 
there was a triumph of principles in defence of which 
our ancestors in the ecclesiastical line had for genera- 
tions poured out their blood like water. These prin- 
ciples could find no hospitable or congenial home in 
Europe, and had fled for refuge to the great ocean- 
bound wilderness as their last hiding-place. A few 
half-clad, half-starved, and not half-equipped regi- 
ments of provincial militia bore the ark which con- 
tained the charter of freedom for the nations. They 
bore it bravely and well, and when the clouds of war 
drifted away, lo ! there stood on these shores, dis- 
closed to the gaze of the world, a Christian republic 



PRESBVTERIANISM IX THE UNITED STATES. 43 

which, as a pharos, flings its light across the ocean to 
guide the footsteps of nations in the path of liberty, 
of progress, and of universal brotherhood. Every 
civilized nation on the globe has felt the throb of our 
free life. Over the ark of our liberties dwells the 
political shekinah of the world, to which all the op- 
pressed shall look, and guided by which they shall 
at last be led into a large and goodly Canaan of civil 
and religious freedom. 

But the war is over. The transcendent achieve- 
ment has been won. After seven years of fierce and 
bitter struggle, dove-eyed Peace has spread over the 
land her shadowing wings, dripping with celestial 
benedictions. The inchoate elements of national life 
have crystallized into a compact and symmetrical 
republican government. The colonies have become 
States, and the Constitution of the United States has 
been adopted. 

Owing to their pronounced and intense patriotism 
during the war, the Presbyterian ministers and 
churches had borne the brunt of the fury of the 
enemy. Pastors were driven away from their flocks, 
churches were turned into barracks or stables, and in 
many instances were torn down or burned. Congre- 
gations left without pastors, and exposed to all the 
deleterious influences of war, were scattered as sheep 
without a shepherd. Many churches could adopt the 
refrain of the prophet : " Zion is a wilderness, Jerusa- 
lem a desolation. Our holy and our beautiful house, 
where our fathers praised thee, is burned up with fire, 
and all our pleasant things are laid waste." 

But as soon as the sword was returned to its scab- 
bard the Church addressed herself to the task of 



44 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

restoring her broken walls, building up her waste 
places, and gathering her scattered sheep to the fold 
again. With a sublime faith and an unerring intuition 
she divined the future greatness of the nation, and 
hastened to make such adjustments in her polity and 
organization as would enable her to meet worthily 
present and prospective responsibilities. 

The complete constitution of the Presbyterian 
Church in the United States of America, containing 
the Confession of Faith, the catechisms, the govern- 
ment and discipline, and the directory for the worship 
of God, was finally ratified and adopted by the Synod 
of New York and Philadelphia in the year 1788 ; and 
at the same meeting the necessary steps were taken 
toward the formation of a General Assembly by divid- 
ing the synod into four synods, and by ordering that 
a General Assembly, constituted out of the " said four 
synods," should meet in Philadelphia in May of the 
following year. 

Thus organized and equipped the Church stands 
abreast of the new era, " her loins girt about with 
truth, her feet shod with the preparation of the gospel 
of peace," in her hand " the sword of the Spirit," and 
with her feet set toward the west. 

The first General Assembly of the Presbyterian 
Church in the United States of America met in the 
Second Presbyterian Church in the city of Philadel- 
phia on May 21, 1789, and was opened, according to 
the appointment of synod, with a sermon by Dr. 
Witherspoon. 

In fancy let us visit this small but august body of 
men. 

In the moderator's chair is the conrtlv Dr. Rodgers, 






PRESBYTERIANISM IN THE UNITED STATES. 45 

and at the clerk's table sits the chivalrous Duffield — 
whose ancestors, reaching America by way of Eng- 
land, Scotland, and Ireland, had their Huguenot blood 
enriched with Puritanic and Covenanting ingredients 
— who during the war had preached under fire, and 
who, along with Beatty, had braved the perils of the 
wilderness in crossing the Alleghenies, in order to set 
up the standard of Presbyterianism on the banks of 
the Monongahela, the Allegheny, and the Ohio, and 
to proffer the blessings of the Gospel to the Indians 
on the banks of the Muskingum. On the floor is Dr. 
Witherspoon, of distinguished presence and of still 
more distinguished achievement ; the eminent divine, 
the able statesman, the pure and valiant patriot, who 
shone alike conspicuously in the pulpit, on the floor 
of Congress, and in the president's chair ; in whose 
veins ran the blood of John Knox, and whose whole 
life proved him to be a worthy descendant of the 
great Scottish Reformer. Beside him, and -coming 
from the same presbytery (New Brunswick), and des- 
tined to be his successor in the presidency of the 
College of New Jersey, is the eloquent and learned 
Dr. Stanhope Smith, the founder of Hampden-Sidney 
College, now in the fullness of his marvellous powers 
and at the zenith of his splendid fame, whose oratory 
recalled the grandeur of Davies and did not suffer in 
comparison with that of Patrick Henry. 

There, too, is the polyhistoric, the encyclopedic 
scholar, the profound divine, the accomplished prov- 
ost of the University of Pennsylvania, Dr. Ewing, 
who on an hour's notice could lecture on any subject 
in the curriculum of the university, who was the peer 
of Rittenhouse in mathematics, and who in conversa- 



46 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

tion could keep old Dr. Sam Johnson at bay. From 
Baltimore comes the renowned Dr. Patrick Allison, 
who went to that place when it contained only thirty 
or forty houses, and in a log hut had preached to a 
congregation of six families, but whose usefulness and 
reputation grew with the growth of the city, until, as 
a preacher, a presbyter, and an accomplished and fear- 
less controversialist, no one stood above him, and of 
whom Dr. Stanhope Smith said, " Dr. Allison is 
decidedly the ablest statesman we have in the General 
Assembly of the Presbyterian Church." There, too, 
is Cooper, one of the Apostles of the Cumberland 
Valley, a valiant military as well as spiritual leader ; 
and the ungainly but saintly Moses Hoge of Vir- 
ginia, who, destitute of the natural gifts and graces 
of oratory, so moved men by his " blood earnestness " 
that John Randolph said, " That man is the best of 
orators"; and McWhorter, who had been the chap- 
lain of Knox's brigade, and who in the darkest hour 
of the Revolution hastened to headquarters to en- 
courage the commander-in-chief ; and Azel Roe, who 
inspired a cowardly regiment with courage and then 
led them into battle, and who was as full of humor as 
he was of courage and patriotism ; and Latta, who 
with blanket and knapsack had accompanied mem- 
bers of his church to the camp and the battle-field ; 
and Dr. Sproat, in the pastorate the successor of 
Gilbert Tennent and the predecessor of Ashbel 
Green ; and Dr. Robert Smith, who at the age of 
fifteen, having caught the spirit of Whitefield and 
having consecrated all the strength of a vigorous 
body to the work of preaching the gospel, was 
abundant in labors, and with his hand on the plough 



PRESBYTERIANISM IN THE UNITED STATES. 47 

never once looked back ; and Dr. Thomas Read, 
whose extensive missionary labors in the wilds of 
Delaware gave him so accurate a knowledge of the 
roads, paths, and bypaths of the region, that he was 
the only man who could extricate Washington and his 
army from the perilous position which they occupied 
at Stanton, before the battle of Brandywine, so that 
the modest pastor of Drawyer's Creek may be de- 
nominated the saviour of his country ; and the 
genial Dr. Matthew Wilson, who was both a divine 
and a physician, and eminent in both professions — 
good men and true, all of them, who had " endured 
hardness as good soldiers'' both in the cause of 
Christ and for their country. 

In point of numbers this Assembly was not large, 
there being on the roll only thirty-four commis- 
sioners, representing thirteen presbyteries, but in 
point of dignity, learning, ability, zeal, and experience 
it compares favorably with any of its many illustrious 
successors. An able committee, raised for the pur- 
pose, reported fifteen rules for the government of the 
body, which have since been supplemented but never 
improved, so that substantially these are the rules by 
which, to this day, the General Assembly has been 
governed. Drs. Witherspoon, Allison, and Stanhope 
Smith, the ablest committee which the Assembly could 
command, drew up an address to George Washington, 
President of the United States, which address, as a 
document, is worthy of the genius and eloquence of 
these three illustrious men, and which, while it has 
nothing in it of the cringing servility and sycophancy 
which are begotten of the adulterous union of Church 
and state, is yet, at the same time, a dignified and 



48 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

loyal acknowledgment of the " powers that be " as 
" ordained of God." 

Regarding with apprehension the fact that many of 
the presbyteries had failed to send commissioners, and 
thoroughly comprehending the importance of holding- 
together the widely separated parts of the Church by 
a common bond, and being as jealous against schism 
as the Israelites when they went posting to Shiloh to 
demand of the trans- Jordanic tribes an explanation of 
the altar of witness, the Assembly adopted a circular 
letter " urging in the most earnest manner the respect- 
ive synods to take effectual measures that all the 
presbyteries send up in due season their full represen- 
tation, " so that the scattered tribes of this Israel 
might, through their representatives, appear together 
once a year before the Lord at the sanctuary. Nor 
was the deplorable and pitiable condition of the 
frontiers forgotten or neglected, but received, as it 
deserved, most earnest and solemn attention. On a 
report of Drs. Allison and Stanhope Smith, the synods 
were requested to recommend to the General As- 
sembly at their next meeting, two members well 
qualified, to be employed in missions on our frontiers, 
for the purpose of organizing churches, administering 
ordinances, ordaining elders, collecting information 
concerning the religious state of these parts, and pro- 
posing the best means of establishing a gospel minis- 
try among the people ; and in order to provide neces- 
sary funds the presbyteries were enjoined to have 
collections made and forwarded with all convenient 
speed. This action was in full accord with an un- 
broken line of deliverances stretching back to the 
very beginning of organic Presbyterianism in this 



PRESB'YTERIANISM IN THE UNITED STATES. 49 

country. The Church of our fathers was poor of 
purse, but rich in faith ; and though " little among 
the thousands of Judah," she had a heart big enough 
to take in the world. From the first she has been a 
missionary Church. Woe be unto her if she lose that 
spirit ! 

Desirous, moreover, to spread the knowledge of 
eternal life contained in the Holy Scriptures, the 
Assembly adopted measures by which to aid the publi- 
cation and dissemination of an American edition of 
the Bible, thus indicating the genuineness of their 
Protestantism by their love for and attachment to the 
Word of God pure and simple. 

Adam Rankin, from the presbytery of Transylvania, 
who, like the thief in the Gospel, seems not to have 
" entered by the door," but to have climbed up some 
other way, brought before the Assembly a portentous 
overture to the effect that the Church had fallen into 
a " great and pernicious error in the public worship 
of God by disusing Rouse's versification of David's 
Psalms and adopting, in the room of it, Watts' imita- 
tion." Mr. Rankin being heard patiently " as long 
as he chose to speak," which was at " great length," 
an able and judicious committee was appointed to 
confer with him privately ; but efforts toward reliev- 
ing his mind proving futile, he was earnestly " recom- 
mended to exercise that Christian charity toward 
those who differed from him in their views on this 
matter which was exercised toward himself, and he 
was guarded to be careful not to disturb the peace of 
the Church on this head." These reasonable and 
fraternal recommendations were disregarded by him, 
however ; and returning home, by a fierce and fanati- 



5<D OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

cal agitation of the subject, he produced in the 
Church in Kentucky a schism which for years entailed 
lamentable disaster upon the cause of Christ in that 
State. The temper and action of the Assembly in 
the premises show that the policy of the Church on 
the question of psalmody was settled. 

In answer to an overture as to whether the " Gen- 
eral Assembly would admit to their communion a 
presbytery who are totally averse to the doctrine of 
receiving, hearing, or judging of any appeals from 
presbyteries to synods or from synods to General 
Assemblies, because in their judgment it is inconsist- 
ent with Scripture and the practice of the primitive 
Church," it was said " that although they consider the 
right of appeal from the decision of an inferior judi- 
cature to a superior one an important privilege, which 
no member of their body ought to be deprived of, yet 
they at the same time declare that they do not desire 
any member to be active in any case which may be 
inconsistent with the dictates of his conscience." 
This does not prove or argue that the Assembly, 
which was almost entirely composed of Scotchmen 
and Irishmen or those of Scotch-Irish extraction, held 
or sympathized with lax ecclesiastical views, but it 
only shows that in peculiar and delicate circumstances 
the Assembly acted cautiously, prudently, and chari- 
tably. It would have been marvellously strange if, 
after all her testimony and all her sufferings in 
defence of her principles, the Church should at this 
point have tamely repudiated these principles. The 
very calmness and mildness of the answer rather show 
the firmness of her convictions and the strength of 
her position. * 



PRESBYTERIANISM IN THE UNITED STATES. 5 1 

The Church at this time consisted of 4 synods, 16 
presbyteries, 117 ministers, and 419 churches, 204 of 
which were vacant. Single presbyteries embraced 
whole States and indefinite expanses of territories 
besides. Pastors had parishes as large as England, 
Scotland, and Ireland all put together. 

The shock of the French revolution was felt on 
these shores. Infidelity in France, in the name of 
liberty, equality, and fraternity, had committed atroc- 
ities for which human speech has coined no fitting 
or adequate terms. In its wanton, blasphemous im- 
piety it had violated all sanctities ; it had desecrated 
all shrines, it had trampled upon all rights, human 
and divine ; it had christened the dreadest instrument 
of modern times the " holy guillotine "; it had striven 
to quench the light of hope in the heart of man by 
decreeing that " there is no God/' and that " death is 
an eternal sleep "; it had wreaked its direst vengeance 
on the living, and then, hyena-like, had rifled the 
grave that it might dishonor the bones and dust of 
the illustrious dead. It has left its track on the page 
of history as the trail of a filthy snake, in orgies of 
lust and in carnivals of blood. The mephitic atmos- 
phere of its licentious and ribald atheism was wafted 
across the ocean, and threatened to blight with a 
curse the virgin life of the young republic. If the 
principles of French infidelity had fairly taken root in 
American soil, they would have produced a harvest 
of anarchy, lust, and carnage such as they had pro- 
duced in their native soil ; and for some time after 
the Revolutionary War it seemed that such a catas- 
trophy as this awaited the nation. 

During the war France was our ally, and thus the 



52 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

sympathy between the two countries was close and 
responsive. French fashions, French manners, and 
French modes of thought and of living dazzled the 
minds of many. Some of the leading statesmen of 
the time and many of the lower politicians were 
avowed infidels. French infidelity was discussed 
around the camp-fires, in legislative halls, in social 
circles, at the Federal capital, and in the backwoods 
of remote Western settlements. War, too, had left its 
dregs and debris of vice, idleness, drunkenness, and 
debauchery. The very air was heavy with the poi- 
son of deadly error, and the Church itself felt its 
paralzying influence. Formalism, indifference, and 
skepticism prevailed among professing Christians, 
while many of the pastors were mere " hirelings who 
cared not for the sheep." The foundations of re- 
ligion, morality, and of social order seemed to be giv- 
ing way. In view of this state of things, the General 
Assembly, in the year 1798, issued a pastoral letter 
which to this day sounds like the blast of a trumpet. 
The letter speaks eloquently and solemnly of the 
"convulsions in Europe " and of the " solemn crisis " 
in this country ; it points with alarm to the " bursting 
storm which threatened to sweep before it the re- 
ligious principles, institutions, and morals of the 
people "; it frames a dreadful indictment against the 
age, charging it with corruption of manners, prevail- 
ing impiety, horrible profanation of the Lord's day, 
contempt for religion, abounding infidelity, which 
assumes a front of daring impiety and possesses a 
mouth filled with blasphemy ; and it declares that 
among ministers of the Gospel and professors of 
Christianity there was a degree of supineness, inatten- 



PRESBYTERIAXISM IN THE UNITED STATES. 53 

tion, formality, deadness, hypocrisy, and pernicious 
error which threatened the dissolution of religious 
society. A dark picture, truly, but not a whit darker 
than the subject which is portrayed. 

Nor were such views and forebodings confined 
to the clergymen. Patrick Henry, in a letter to his 
daughter, says : " The view which the rising greatness 
of our country presents to my eyes is greatly tarnished 
by the general prevalence of deism, which, with me, 
is but another name for vice and depravity." 

The clouds which thus lowered over the new States 
and threw their black shadows of evil portent far into 
the future were scattered by the breath of the Spirit 
of God going forth in powerful and widespread re- 
vivals of religion. During the Revolutionary War, 
on the borders of Western Pennsylvania, in a rude 
fort into which had been driven the scattered families 
of a sparse neighborhood, and in which they were 
held besieged by bloody savages, through the modest, 
earnest conversations of one layman, the mighty work 
began which forever settled on these shores the issue 
as between the Gospel and French infidelity. It was 
" an handful of corn in the earth," in a strange seed- 
plot, but the fruit thereof to-day, in all these States, 
and far hence to the Gentiles, " shakes like Lebanon." 
" It is the Lord's doing, and it is wondrous in our 
eyes." From the year 1781 to the year 1787 there 
was an almost continuous effusion of the Holy Ghost 
in marvellous pow T er upon the churches in Western 
Pennsylvania. Souls were drawn as by an irresistible 
magnet to the pulpit, and held for days and nights 
under the power of the truth in its enlightening and 
saving efficacy. To measure the results of such a 



54 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

work at such a time, in a society which was in a for- 
mative state, is as impossible as it would be to 
estimate the contents of the covenanted blessings of 
Abraham. From that rude fort " their line is gone 
out through all the earth." 

When the work had gone on for five years in 
Western Pennsylvania, there might have been found 
beyond the Blue Ridge, one Saturday afternoon, in a 
dense forest, a mile from Hampden-Sidney College, 
four young students holding a prayer meeting. For 
the first time in their lives they opened their lips in 
prayer in the presence of any except their God. 
Hidden in the deep recesses of the woods they 
stammered forth their broken petitions, but no 
prayers uttered beneath the domes of grand cathe- 
drals and in the presence of thousands of rapt wor- 
shippers were ever more efficacious. The next meet- 
ing of these students was appointed in one of their 
rooms in the college, and behind bolted doors and in 
suppressed voices they began to sing and pray ; but 
the news of the strange proceeding spread rapidly 
through the college, and soon a mob was collected 
at the door of the room, whooping, thumping, swear- 
ing, and threatening vengeance ; nor was the riot 
quelled until two of the professors appeared upon 
the scene and vigorously exercised their official 
authority. A prayer meeting raised a riot in Hampden- 
Sidney College ! If we take into account the additional 
fact that outside of this little praying circle there was 
not a copy of the Bible among the students, we can 
form an idea of the degree to which the leaven of 
infidelity had infected the minds of the young men of 
that generation. From that little prayer meeting in 



PRESBYTERIANISM IN THE UNITED STATES. 55 

the woods began a precious work of grace which 
spread through the counties south of the James River 
and swept up and down the great valley of Virginia, 
baptizing in its course the two literary institutions, 
Hampden-Sidney College and Liberty Hall Academy, 
which afterward became Washington College, and 
giving to the ministry such men as Drury Lacy, with 
" the silver voice and the silver hand," William Hill, 
Carey Allen, Nash Legrand, James Blythe, John 
Lyle, James Turner, and Archibald Alexander. Thus 
the proud, vaunting speculations and blasphemous 
scoffings and swollen insolences of infidelity were 
silenced in Virginia by the power of the Holy Ghost 
exhibited in the conversion of souls. 

Such power as this was not pent up within State 
lines. The venerable Patillo came up from North 
Carolina to see the wonderful works of God, and 
returning home with mind and heart aglow finished 
his ministry in a blaze of religious fervor. A young 
man who years before had left North Carolina in 
order to seek an education in Western Pennsylvania, 
and who in the meantime had been converted under 
the preaching of Rev. Joseph Smith, and who was 
among the first of those who were educated under Dr. 
McMillan, having been licensed by the presbytery of 
Redstone, started southward to visit his kindred, and on 
the way having stopped at Prince Edward and caught 
the holy contagion of the revival there, was the means 
under God of arousing the churches from a deathlike 
stupor and of diffusing the spiritual awakening from 
the Dan to the Catawba. With intense convictions, 
a fearless and merciless reprover of sin, a pitiless 
scourger of formality and hypocrisy, with an impas- 



56 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

sioned manner and a voice like seven trumpets, Rev. 
James McGready flashed the terrors of the law into 
the minds and hearts of men until the stoutest 
quailed. After some years of most arduous and fruit- 
ful labor in North Carolina he removed to Kentucky, 
where his searching, discriminating preaching became 
the means of the great awakening in that State, the 
mighty influence of which, in a refluent tide, swept 
over Tennessee, the Carolinas, Virginia, and Western 
Pennsylvania. 

The revival in Virginia and North Carolina had 
brought into the ministry a band of young men whose 
hearts God had touched in a signal manner. Never 
was a knight of the cross more eager to encounter 
hardship and peril in the rescue of the Holy Sepulchre 
from the hand of the infidel than were these young 
soldiers of the Lord Jesus eager in their flaming zeal 
to engage in arduous and perilous enterprises for the 
glory of their Master. In order to furnish them a 
suitable field, the Synod of Virginia, in the year 1789, 
organized a committee on missions, which from year 
to year sent forth these young heralds to carry the 
Gospel to destitute places. Among these went forth 
such men as Nash Legrand, an Apollo in physical 
grace and proportion, with a voice whose modulations 
were as pleasing as the dulcet notes of a lute, and 
" whose labors were more extensive in spreading the 
revival than any other agent employed in the work "; 
William Hill, one of the immortal four who held the 
prayer meeting in the woods at Prince Edward ; the 
eccentric, witty, brilliant, genial, and eloquent Carey 
Allen, " whom the common people heard gladly," and 
whose intense ardor soon consumed his physical life ; 



PRESBYTERIANISM IN THE UNITED STATES. 57 

Robert Marshall, who, spared through six hard-fought 
battles of the Revolutionary War, to become a soldier 
in a holier war, enlisted all the enthusiasm of his 
impulsive nature in the work of preaching the Gospel 
with earnestness and startling directness ; i\rchibald 
Alexander, whom to name is to eulogize ; William 
Calhoun, the companion of Carey Allen in his mis- 
sionary toils and perils ; the brilliant, able, and 
scholarly John Poage Campbell (a lineal descendant 
of the seraphic Rutherford), whose sledge-hammer 
logic dashed to pieces the Pelagianism of Craighead, 
and who wielded a pen which was at one time as keen 
as a Damascus blade and at another as terrific and 
crushing as the battle-axe of a mailed knight; the 
praying Rannels ; James Blythe, whose room had 
been the rendezvous of the praying students at 
Hampden-Sidney College ; and Robert Stuart, the 
laborious missionary, the accomplished educator, the 
faithful pastor, a Melanchthon in council, but a 
Luther in battle, Of this number some labored in 
Virginia and some went to Kentucky. These were 
the young guard of Presbyterianism, who, snatching 
up the drooping standards of the sacramental host, 
with a holy chivalry bore them onward through teem- 
ing dangers and sore privations, to plant them firmly 
and conspicuously on outpost and picket-line. These 
were the youthful heroes whose clarion voices, tuned 
to the love of Jesus, called the Church from out her 
ititrenchments, in which she had for long been cower- 
ing, and made her aggressive in her whole mien, atti- 
tude, and spirit, and led her forward to victories which 
rendered the spiritual opening of the nineteenth cen- 
tury as bright as "another morn risen on mid-noon." 



58 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

The last century drew to its close amidst dense 
spiritual darkness in Kentucky. The rapid increase 
of population had far outstripped the supply of 
ministers and the multiplication of the means of grace. 
The labors of Father Rice and a few men of kindred 
spirit were wholly inadequate to meet the demands 
of the times. Amidst the contagious spirit of land 
speculation and the exciting scenes and incidents of 
border life, many who at their former homes had been 
exemplary Christians forgot their vows, struck their 
colors, and went over to the ranks of the enemy, while 
those who, although not professors, had been respect- 
ers of religion, became open scoffers, and open 
scoffers grew more and more bold in iniquity. Mam- 
mon, rum, and mad adventure ruled the hearts of men 
with despotic sway. Infidelity, vice, and irreligion 
came in like a flood, wave on wave, threatening to 
overwhelm and sweep away the foundations of all 
social, civil, and ecclesiastical institutions. " The 
people sat in the region and shadow of death." In the 
perilous crisis many of the ministers of the Gospel 
grew faint-hearted, and through cowardice or apostasy 
betrayed the cause which they were sworn to defend. 
A stiff and stark formalism, and the unhappy contro- 
versy and schism on the subject of psalmody, had well- 
nigh destroyed all piety in the Church, while in the 
walks of public life infidelity prevailed, and among the 
masses abominable and high-handed crime abounded. 

Such was the desperate condition of things in 
Kentucky when the young missionaries from Virginia 
and North Carolina entered it and began to preach 
the Gospel with such a fulness of conviction and with 
vividness so awful that all classes of men, from the 



PRESBYTERIANISM IN THE UNITED STATES. 59 

philosophic skeptic to the red-handed desperado, 
were swayed by its power as the fields of headed 
grain bend before the sweep of the wind or as clouds 
marshal to the step of the storm. 

The revival began in the year 1797 in the churches 
which were under the pastoral care of Rev. James 
McGready, who preached the most vital and solemn 
doctrines of the gospel with prodigious force and 
startling directness. The religious interest thus 
begun, extended and deepened until, in the year 
1800, on sacramental occasions, thousands came from 
far and near, bringing with them provisions and con- 
veniences for temporary lodging. This was the origin 
of camp-meetings ; and when once inaugurated, they 
became a distinctive feature of the times and consti- 
tuted a marked agency of the work as it was carried 
on. When the camp was established, it became, for 
the time being, the centre of all life and interest. 
The plough rusted in the furrow, the sickle was hung 
up even in the time of ^harvest ; all ages and all classes 
swelled the crowds which poured in from all sides, 
as the tribes of Israel converged by all paths to the 
tabernacle. Thousands of vehicles, with their thou- 
sands of neighing horses, filled the groves and gave 
the appearance of an army encamped. Men, women, 
and children, old age with its staff, the child with its 
rattle, the invalid with his bed. the matron with her 
cares, the maiden in the freshness of her beauty, the 
young man in the glory of his strength, were there by 
tens of thousands. 

From the moving, teeming multitudes the hum of 
voices arose like the distant roar of the sea. Now 
the volume of praise arises as the " voice of many 



60 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

waters," and now all is hushed except the impassioned 
tones of the preacher, which, magnetized by the 
burden of the message and by intensity of emotion, 
kindle to a flame the hearts of the breathless throng 
as when the wind drives to race-horse speed the 
leaping flames on a dry prairie. The spectacle at 
night, with the scattered tents and wagons, and the 
multitudes of men, women, and children, and horses, 
all dimly revealed by camp-fires, torches, lamps, and 
candles, and the deep, dark, silent forest around, 
made up a scene fit for a Raphael to picture in colors 
or for a Milton to paint in words. Amidst scenes 
and incidents so wild and strange and impressive, 
with so many inflammable elements commingling and 
with so many intense influences and forces co-operat- 
ing to produce the deepest conviction of sin on the 
one hand and to excite the most ecstatic devotion on 
the other, it need not be a matter of astonishment that 
lamentable extravagances both of sentiment and of 
conduct were developed ; but *these extravagances 
formed no essential part of the revival, and are to be 
carefully discriminated from it. Some of the ablest 
and wisest pastors who were engaged in the work 
solemnly protested against the " bodily exercises " 
and all their unseemly concomitants. The Lord sent 
a gracious revival, but through the folly and vanity 
of man it was marred and disfigured by abominable 
excrescences ; or, in the language of the venerable 
Father Rice, " it was sadly mismanaged, dashed down 
and broken to pieces," so that the work which began 
under auspices so bright ended in disastrous fanati- 
cism, heresy, and schism. When the Spirit of God 
moved the waters which had been so long stagnant. 



PRESBYTERIANISM IN THE UNITED STATES. 6 1 

profuse froth and scum were thrown to the surface in 
the form of New Lightism, Universal ism, Arianism, 
and fanaticism. 

The New Light schism in its brief and fitful career 
swept up the cast-off skins of errors, new and old, as 
they lay strewn along the track of time all the way 
from Gnosticism to Shakerism, and was at last 
merged into that creedless Babel of theological 
opinions founded by Alexander Campbell. 

The widespread religious interest created a demand 
for ministers of the gospel, and at the same time 
begat a desire to preach the gospel in the minds of 
many who had no academical or other training to fit 
them for the sacred office. The licensing and ordain- 
ing such men, in utter and high-handed defiance of 
the requirements of the Book of Discipline, both in 
regard to literary qualifications and to the adoption 
and subscription of the Confession of Faith, led to 
the schism which resulted in the organization of the 
Cumberland Presbyterian Church. 

From these conflicts the Church emerged greatly 
reduced in numbers and resources, it is true, but, 
nevertheless, purer and more compact than before. 
Amidst the fierce storms she preserved her standards 
intact, vindicated the cause of theological education, 
resolutely refused to abate an iota of the conditions 
of subscription of the Confession, and demonstrated 
to all the world that in times of high-wrought excite- 
ment it is safer to stand on the rock of principle than 
to drift with the eddying currents of expediency. 

Notwithstanding these deplorable fanaticisms, 
apostasies, and lamentable schisms, there was a 
genuine and extensive work of grace throughout 



02 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

the churches in Kentucky and Tennessee. The 
"bodily exercises" were no part of the work of the 
Holy Ghost. The revival was a work of God notwith- 
standing the "bodily exercises." In the prolonged 
and intense excitement the infirmities of human 
nature threw to the surface a great many irregu- 
larities and extraordinary physical phenomena w T hich, 
to a degree, obscured the real work in its progress 
and results. The winnowed wheat glides quietly 
into the garner, while the chaff and mildew darken 
and pollute the air. 

In the second year of the present century the 
revival began at Cross Roads, in Orange Co., 
North Carolina, and from that centre radiated its 
spiritual quickening light and power through a wide 
circle. Such was the interest in hearing the gospel 
from the living teacher that thousands, in the depth of 
winter, stood listening the livelong day in drenching 
storms of rain, sleet, and snow. Meetings were con- 
tinued through the whole night to the breaking of 
the day, and then were resumed at nine o'clock on 
the next morning. The infidel, the scoffer, the 
formal professor, the drunkard, the debauchee, the 
giddy youth, the hardened criminal, the learned, the 
ignorant, the bond, the free, the master, the slave, 
were all brought under the resistless influence and 
were made one in Christ Jesus. No barriers erected 
by Satan were sufficient to arrest the progress of the 
work ; but purged to a great extent of the extrava- 
gances and excrescences which had been so prolific 
of mischief in Kentucky, it gained thereby in depth 
and power, and has left in the Carolinas spots as 
marked in the memory, and as dear to the hearts, of 



PRESBYTERIANISM IN THE UNITED STATES. 63 

Presbyterians, as the moors and mountains of Scot- 
land are sacred in the eyes of the Covenanters. 

In Virginia the revival began in a little prayer 
meeting of private Christians among the mountains 
where there was no stated ministry — another instance 
of proof that genuine revivals are not produced by 
blowing trumpets or by the impressive marshalling of 
great crowds. Now, as ever, the Lord is not in the 
storm nor the earthquake nor the fire, but in the 
"still, small voice/' The more quietly and obscurely 
a revival begins, the greater is its real power. The 
influence of that little band of praying disciples among 
the mountains, not one of whom probably could con- 
struct a half dozen consecutive sentences of good 
English, rose like the little cloud which the servant of 
Elijah saw from the top of Carmel, and descended in 
copious showers of blessing throughout the State for 
many years thereafter. 

In the autumn of the year 1802 there were mar- 
vellous displays of divine grace in the pastoral charge 
of Rev. Elisha McCurdy, consisting of the churches 
of Three Springs and Cross Roads in Western Penn- 
sylvania, in which churches a praying band had for 
some time before been observing a concert of prayer 
on each Thursday evening at sunset. The gracious 
influences thus kindled soon spread to the congrega- 
tions of Cross Creek, Raccoon, Upper Buffalo, and 
Chartiers, whose pastors were respectively Rev. 
Thomas Marquis, Rev. Joseph Patterson, Rev. John 
Anderson, and Rev. John McMillan. The interest 
and power of this revival culminated at the " great 
Buffalo sacrament," in November, 1802, at Upper 
Buffalo, Washington Co., Pennsylvania. Vast 



64 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

crowds attended this meeting, and religious services 
were continued almost without interruption from 
Saturday noon to Tuesday evening, and all these 
exercises were accompanied with marvellous displays 
of divine power. During the progress of this meet- 
ing Rev. Elisha McCurdy preached his celebrated 
" war sermon," under the power of which, according 
to eye-witnesses, it seemed that every tenth man 
had been smitten down. Rarely in the history of the 
Church have such ministers labored together in a 
revival as met in this one — Patterson, " full of faith 
and the Holy Ghost, " Marquis of the silver tongue, 
Anderson, whose searching discourses penetrated the 
hidden places of the human heart as a surgeon's 
probe goes to the bottom of a festering wound, and 
the lion-like McMillan, whose thunderous tones in 
preaching the terrors of the law made sinners feel 
that the trumpet of the archangel was sounding. 
Under the preaching of such men began the wonder- 
ful work of grace which in its progress reached and 
blessed " every Presbyterian congregation west of 
the mountains in Pennsylvania." 

Nor were these outpourings of the spirit confined 
to the South and the West. In the Eastern part of the 
Church the revival influence was not so mighty nor 
so extraordinary in its phenomena, yet it was no less 
genuine or precious or far-reaching in its influence 
and results. In the year 1802 a deep and continued 
work of grace began in the First Church of Newark, 
N. J., which was then under the collegiate pastorate 
of Dr. Alexander McWhorter and Rev. Edward Don- 
Griffin. The ministry of Dr. McWhorter had been a 
series of revivals, and the history of this ministry 



PRESBYTERIANISM IN THE UNITED STATES. 65 

had a brilliant continuation under Dr. Griffin, a 
physical and intellectual giant, whose splendid en- 
dowments were consecrated without reserve to the 
service of his Lord and Master ; and whether 
preaching in a metropolitan pulpit or in a school- 
house or in a cramped and dingy town hall, these 
endowments were all brought into play with their 
overpowering effulgence. His wonderful endowments 
both of body and of mind, his majestic presence, and 
his magnificent oratory place him conspicuously in 
the front rank of the preachers of all the ages ; 
and a revival of religion was the occasion on which 
he seemed to be most at home, and on which his 
faculties worked most harmoniously and most 
brilliantly. 

While in commanding ability and Demosthenic elo- 
quence Dr. Griffin was without a peer, there were 
colaborers of his who were not a whit behind him in 
devotion and in influence. Such were Rev. Henry 
Kollock, upon whom the mantle of Whitefield seems 
to have fallen ; Dr. James Richards, afterward the 
successor of Dr. Griffin in the First Church of Newark, 
N. J.; Rev. Asa Hillyer, whose every instinct was 
evangelistic, and whose thoughts and prayers accom- 
panied his gifts to the ends of the earth ; the 
witty and genial Armstrong (Amzi, D. D.) ; the 
amiable Perrine (Matthew La Rue, D. D.) ; Robert 
Finley, "the father of the American Colonization 
Society," who, in his enthusiasm for the cause which 
he had espoused, brought the mightiest minds in 
the United States Senate to sit at his feet. These 
brethren, quickened by the spirit of revival, went 
forth two by two through the destitute portions of New 



66 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

Jersey, in quest of " the lost sheep of the house of 
Israel," and in these missionary tours they were greatly 
blessed. Preaching to the miners among the mountains 
they saw, as Whitefield in England had seen, the tears 
of penitence wash white furrows down the begrimed and 
hardened cheeks of these men. The work was quite 
general throughout the State, and persons of all ages 
and of all ranks and classes were brought to Christ. 

From the year 1803 to the year 181 2 the narratives 
on the state of religion which were adopted by the 
successive General Assemblies are almost uniformly 
cheering and inspiring by their intelligence of revival, 
of victory over infidelity, which had been so much 
dreaded ; of steady, healthful growth and increasing 
aggressive power on the part of the Church. One 
year brings the news that " there was scarcely a pres- 
bytery under the care of the General Assembly from 
which some pleasing intelligence had not been an- 
nounced, and that in most of the Northern and Eastern 
presbyteries revivals of religion of a more or less gen- 
eral nature had taken place. " In the following year 
we hear of remarkable outpourings of the Spirit of 
God over the " vast region extending from the Ohio 
River to the Lakes, which region a few years before 
had been an uninhabited wilderness, " as well as in 
the Synods of New Jersey, New York, and Albany. 
Then again the glad tidings come up from Long 
Island, from the banks of the Hudson, and from the 
" newly settled regions in the western parts of the 
State of New York," which desert, under the auspices 
of grace, promised to become as the garden of the 
Lord ; and at another time these glad tidings come 
from Philadelphia, Cape May, Baltimore, and Wash- 



PRESBYTERIANISM IN THE UNITED STATES. Gj 

ington City. From time to time the delegates from 
the Congregational churches of New England brought 
good news of revivals in Connecticut, in Yale College, 
in Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and 
Maine. From the Merrimac to the Mississippi, from 
Cape Fear to Cape Cod, from the Chesapeake to the 
Lakes, came year after year tidings of revival, of the 
conversion of sinners, of the discomfiture of infidelity, 
and of the triumphs of grace, which were more 
glorious than any that were ever bulletined by martial 
heroes from Nimrod to Moltke. In all this wide 
circle the General Assembly from its watch-tower 
" could trace the footsteps of Jehovah," could perceive 
distinctly amidst the tumultuous strife the progress of 
the triumphal chariot of the Lord of hosts, and could 
see the pillar of cloud and of fire going before the 
people as they penetrated the great Western wilder- 
ness. With the smoke of the " clearing " rose the 
incense of prayer and praise. Thus into the founda- 
tions of our national institutions went the tempered 
mortar of sound theology and of vital godliness. 
With these fathers religion was not a theory or a 
philosophy, but a life. 

The narratives on the state of religion frequently 
and eloquently refer to the conquests of grace over 
infidelity and false philosophy. They tell how these 
opposing forces were by the power of God driven 
from the field, and how their champions were either 
converted or else covered with confusion. They also 
repeatedly rejoice in the fact that the educated mind 
of the nation was turning more and more to the cross 
of Christ. When we remember the widespread prev- 
alence of infidelity in the latter part of the eighteenth 



68 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

century and the front of brazen-faced assurance which 
it put on, and when we think of the persistent and 
malignant efforts which were made to brand Chris- 
tianity as a vulgar delusion, utterly unworthy the con- 
sideration of an intelligent mind, and when we con- 
sider how this seductive infidelity, under the guise 
of philosophy and respectability, had poisoned the 
political and social life of the nation — we can under- 
stand the solicitude of the Church in the solemn crisis, 
and know why it was that she so rejoiced when she 
saw the banner of the cross lifted up and advancing, 
while the standards of the enemy went down amidst 
the panic-stricken ranks of unbelief. 

Thus, by the power of the Holy Ghost, the gates of 
the new century on this continent were swung open. 
The Sun of righteousness arose, and the sentinels, 
from Plymouth Rock to the peaks of the Cumber- 
land Mountains, passed the watchword, " The morn- 
ing cometh." 

The first pulsations of organic Presbyterianism in 
this country were the throbbings of missionary zeal. 
As early as the year 1707 the presbytery ordered that 
" every minister of the presbytery supply neighboring 
desolate places where a minister is wanting and oppor- 
tunity of doing good offers." The entire ministry 
of the Church was thus organized into a missionary 
corps. Like the children of Issachar, they were " men 
that had understanding of the times to know what 
Israel ought to do." They divined the coming gran- 
deur of the empire which, springing up in the forests 
of America, was to stretch " f rom sea to sea," and 
they recognized clearly and felt profoundly the 



PRESBYTERIANISM IN THE UNITED STATES. 69 

supreme necessity of laying the foundations of this 
empire in the principles of the word of God, so that 
it might be able to withstand the winds and floods 
and earthquake shocks which it must encounter in its 
march down the centuries. The Church and country 
greatly needed godly and faithful ministers, and also 
the means by which these ministers could be supported. 
Earnest and repeated cries for both men and money 
were sent to England, Scotland, and Ireland, and any 
favorable response to these entreaties awakened the 
liveliest sentiments of gratitude in the hearts of these 
laborious self-denying servants of God, who, with 
scanty material resources, but with a marvellous 
wealth of faith, were humbly and heroically discharg- 
ing the obscure duties which belong to the " day of 
small things/' 

At the first meeting of the Synod of Philadelphia 
an overture was adopted to the effect that the several 
members of the synod " contribute something to the 
raising of a fund for pious uses." These ministers 
gave out of their poverty, and according to the spirit of 
the overture, it was only after they had thus given, 
that they might " use their interest with their friends 
on proper occasions to contribute something to the 
purpose." They did not merely inculcate benevo- 
lence, " as the manner of some is," but gave a practical 
exemplification of it. They not only pointed out the 
way to their flocks, but led them in that way. As I 
may not traverse this part of the field, which has been 
so thoroughly canvassed* let it suffice to say that the 
Presbyterian Church in this country, from the very 
first, has been in heart and soul, in body and spirit, 
in life and limb, a missionary organization. 

* In the address of another on this same occasion. — Eds. 



70 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

The General Assembly took up and carried forward 
the work which had been inaugurated by the presby- 
tery and the synod. At its first meeting this subject 
occupied the earnest thought and care of the General 
Assembly, and the synods were enjoined to furnish, 
through the presbyteries, suitable missionaries, and 
the churches were urged to take collections for the 
cause, that thus both men and means might be 
furnished for the establishment of churches on the 
frontiers. 

In the next year (1790) the Synod of Virginia, not 
having received the official action of the General 
Assembly, organized a very efficient " Commission of 
Synod/' which sent its missionaries from the " bay 
shore to the Mississippi.'' I have in another con- 
nection spoken of the Commission of the Synod of 
Virginia, of the remarkable band of missionaries 
which that Commission sent forth, and of the great 
work which these missionaries accomplished within 
the borders of Virginia and in Kentucky and Ten- 
nessee. The Synod of North Carolina also inau- 
gurated measures of its own for advancing the picket- 
line along the extensive frontier. These synods were 
to report their operations to the General Assembly. 

By these different agencies and from these differ- 
ent centres the aggressive work of the Church was 
pushed vigorously forward. The missionaries were 
itinerant, travelling over fields immense in extent 
and bristling with difficulties and dangers. The 
General Assembly sent its missionaries mainly to Cen- 
tral New York, Northern Pennsylvania, and to the 
Eastern Shore of Maryland. One circuit extended 
from Lake George to the northwestern frontier of 



PRESBYTERIANISM IN THE UNITED STATES. J I 

Pennsylvania. Another stretched from Northumber- 
land Co. along the branches of the Susquehanna, 
and beyond the head-waters of that river northward 
to Lake Ontario and westward to Lake Erie. At 
the beginning of the century the Synod of North 
Carolina had sent its missionaries, in connection with 
the missionaries of the General Assemblv, westward 
to the Mississippi and southward well-nigh to the Gulf 
of Mexico. 

In these aggressive movements of the Church the 
Indians were not forgotten ; the work of "gospelizing " 
them occupied the early and earnest attention of the 
General Assembly. Abundant and urgent incentives 
to such an enterprise were found in the condition and 
necessities of these savage tribes, while splendid ex- 
amples of devotion and success in this field were on 
record as a sanction and an encouragement in the 
undertaking. The immortal author of " The Treatise 
on the Will," " the greatest divine of the age," had 
spent the fullest and the ripest of his years among 
the Indians at Stockbridge, Massachusetts ; and 
Brainerd, by his labors and apostolic zeal among the 
same people on the Delaware and the Susquehanna, 
had given to Christendom new ideas on the subject 
of missionary consecration and enthusiasm, and on 
the power of the gospel as a saving and civilizing 
agent among the lowest and most degraded classes. 
Under the power of such incentives, and in the light 
of these great examples, the Gospel was preached to 
the Indians along the frontier from the Hudson to 
the Mississippi. Our forefathers, with their trusty 
rifles as a defence in the one hand, held out with the 
other the Bread of Life and the blessings of civiliza- 



72 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

tion and education to their treacherous and bloody 
foes. The dreadful war-whoop was answered by the 
trumpet of the Gospel of Peace. The Church kept 
bravely abreast of the line of population as it ad- 
vanced westward. The watchmen of Zion, seeing 
the standards of the sacramental host borne steadily 
onward over mountains, across rivers, through difficult 
and perilous places, and planted amidst the log cabins 
of the frontiersmen and the wigwams of the Indians 
from the St. Lawrence to the Gulf of Mexico, could 
have taken up the shout of the mediaeval poet : 

The royal banners forward go, 

The cross shines forth with mystic glow. 

Presbyterianism has always been the patron and 
promoter of learning. An open Bible, an enlightened 
intellect, and an unfettered conscience have ever been 
her watchwords. Whithersoever she has gone she 
has borne the torch of learning along with her. Her 
goings forth have been attended by an illumination 
like to that which attended the steps of Milton's 
Raphael in Eden. The pioneers of American Pres- 
byterianism, true to the traditions of the past, carried 
the lamp of learning with them into the wilderness. 
Under the bare and rude rafters of log cabins they 
held converse with the mighty spirits of Greece and 
Rome, and within sound of the Indian war-whoop 
and within sight of the council-fires of savage tribes 
they laid the foundations of literary institutions 
whose influence has had a wider reach and a deeper 
current than ever belonged to the doctrines of the 
Porch or the Academy. 

The log college of Tennent on the banks of the 



PRESRYTERIANISM IN THE UNITED STATES. 73 

Neshaminy first gave the distinctive stamp to Ameri- 
can Presbyterianism, and that of Blair at Fagg's 
Manor, Pa., was scarcely less influential, and shall 
ever have a secure place in its unique historic niche 
so long as it can be said, " Samuel Davies was edu- 
cated here and went forth into the world an exponent 
and exemplar of his Alma Mater "j while that of 
Finley at Nottingham, Md., sent forth such men as 
Dr. Waddell, the immortal blind preacher, whose elo- 
quence William Wirt has made familiar to every 
schoolboy. 

In Western Pennsylvania, as early as 1782, Rev. 
Thaddeus Dodd opened his log academy on Ten- 
Mile Creek ; Rev. Joseph Smith, at Upper Buffalo, 
appropriating his kitchen for the purpose of a Latin 
school, gave it the dignified and classical title, " The 
Study"; while even earlier than this Dr. McMillan, 
on the banks of the Chartiers, laid the foundations of 
Jefferson College. 

The same policy was pursued in North Carolina. 
The self-educated Patillo taught a classical school 
at Granville; Dr. Hall had his famous " Clio's 
Nursery " at Snow Creek, and his " Academy of the 
Sciences/' with its philosophical apparatus, at his own 
house ; the flaming evangelist McGready opened a 
school at his house ; W^allis had a classical school at 
New Providence, McCorkle at Salisbury, and Mc- 
Caule at Centre. Patillo and Hall not only taught, 
but wrote text-books. The spirit of these men is 
indicated by an incident in the life of Patillo. Once, 
in his absence from home, his house was burned ; 
and the first question on meeting his wife was, " My 
dear, are my books safe ? " 



74 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

Down the beautiful valleys of the Holston and the 
Clinch, in Tennessee, emigration poured from North 
Carolina, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. 
The first settled minister in this region was Rev. 
Samuel Doak, who built a log college, which in 1788 
was incorporated as Martin Academy, the first lite- 
rary institution established in the valley of the 
Mississippi, and which afterward, in 1795, became 
Washington College. Subsequently removing to 
Greene Co., Mr. Doak opened his " Tusculum," an 
academy to prepare young men for college. This 
institution also developed into a college. A small 
library, procured for Washington College in Philadel- 
phia, was carried to Tennessee in sacks on pack- 
horses. In five years after the first settlement of the 
State by Daniel Boone steps were taken toward the 
founding of a seminary of learning in Kentucky. The 
originators and promoters of this scheme were Pres- 
byterians, and the school, the first in Kentucky, was 
opened in the house of Father Rice. 

Presbyterianism is an Aaron's rod, which always 
buds with intellectual as well as with spiritual life. 
The Graces and the Muses, in chaste and modest 
fellowship with Christian virtues, dwelt in the Western 
forests. Beside the fires on the altars of pure religion 
burned the lamp of sound learning. " The church, 
the schoolhouse, and the college grew up with the 
log cabin, and the principles of religion were pro- 
claimed and the classics taught where glass windows 
were unknown and books were carried on pack- 
horses." 

Devotion to freedom, profound conviction of duty, 
stanch and unswerving loyalty to truth, stern adher- 



PRESBYTERIANISM IN THE UNITED STATES. 75 

ence to principle, catholic charity, an active benevo- 
lence, love of learning, the spirit of missions, and the 
power of revival — these were the vital forces of early 
American Presbyterianism ; and these forces had as 
the theatre of their operation the republic of the 
United States, with its vast and unsolved problems 
and its untold possibilities of wealth and power, while 
as the epoch of their development these forces had 
the nineteenth century, with its teeming enterprises, 
its concentrating energies, its momentous conflicts 
and issues. 

Having thus endeavored to set before you clearly, 
in its distinctive characteristics, the Presbyterian 
Church of America during the last decade of the 
eighteenth century and the first decade of the nine- 
teenth century, and having endeavored to place the 
Church fairly abreast of the mighty current of modern 
history, the rest of my task must be despatched more 
summarily. In the execution of it I shall give only 
broad outlines and shall deal with forces rather than 
with facts. 

The work of revival, the power of which had been 
felt from the St. Lawrence to the Mississippi, had 
evoked the spirit of missions, and the spirit of mis- 
sions had enlarged the views and broadened the sym- 
pathies of Christians and of churches, and in this way 
different denominations had been brought together 
in friendly co-operation. In the year 1802 the 
General Assembly adopted the Plan of Union, under 
which a Presbyterian church might have a Congre- 
gational pastor or a Congregational church might 
have a Presbyterian pastor, these pastors retaining 



76 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

their respective ecclesiastical relations. The motives 
which prompted this action were in the highest degree 
laudable and honorable, but the practical operation 
of the plan was beset with difficulties, and these diffi- 
culties soon began to manifest themselves. Swift 
currents were now sweeping the Church out into 
untried waters. New elements, new forces, and new 
issues entered into the history year by year. The 
incidents of the drama thicken. Events hasten ; the 
tide of mingling peoples rolls westward ; the steps of 
Divine Providence will not tarry ; States in the South 
and in the West rise as by magic ; along new lines of 
trade and travel cities spring up in a night ; vast and 
important mission-fields are rapidly opening, and the 
Church has neither the men nor the means with which 
to occupy these fields. 

In the year 1806 the late Dr. James Hoge of 
Columbus, O., was sent as a missionary to " the 
State of Ohio and parts adjacent." 

As the new age, with its tumultous and mingling 
elements and its pressing demands on Christian 
activity, hurried on, it developed difference of views 
and of policy where unanimity of both had prevailed 
before. In pushing forward the cause of evangeliza- 
tion there were two antagonistic theories according 
to which the work was conducted. One theory mul- 
tiplied voluntary and irresponsible societies in different 
localities, and operated from various centres without 
unity of purpose or of government. The other theory 
strove to unify the benevolent work of the Church 
and to bring it within the metes and bounds of eccle- 
siastical control. In the slow but steady working out 
of this latter theory the committee on missions, which 



PRESBYTERIANISM IN THE UNITED STATES. 77 

was raised by the General Assembly in 1790, became 
a stated committee, the stated committee became a 
standing committee, and the standing committee 
passed into the Board of Missions in the year 1816. 
In the same way successive efforts in behalf of minis- 
terial education resulted at last in the Board of Edu- 
cation in the year 181 9. 

Besides these antagonistic views and policies in 
respect to the benevolent work of the Church, ques- 
tions arose under the operation of the Plan of Union 
which touched the vital principles of Presbyterianism. 
There was no dispute as to what Presbyterianism was, 
but as to how far its fundamental principles might be 
ignored or suspended for the sake of expediency. 
These questions and the differences which arose out 
of them became more and more emphasized each suc- 
ceeding year. By some the Plan of Union was put 
above the constitution of the Church. By others the 
Plan of Union was regarded as a masterly device for 
congregationalizing the Church, or else for destroy- 
ing both Presbyterianism and Congregationalism and 
producing a hybrid monstrosity of ecclesiasticism 
which would be a caricature of both. The differences 
were deep, striking down to the roots of the Pres- 
byterian system, and were consequently irreconcilable. 

In addition to the differences in regard to policy 
and polity, there were deeper doctrinal controversies. 
The cloud which contained this storm came from New 
England. New measures and New Haven theology 
created a great amount of distrust and disturbance 
throughout the Church. The very sincerity, earnest- 
ness, and honesty of the men who were engaged on 
both sides of the controversy made the contest all the 



78 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

more determined and the excitement attending it all 
the more intense. Each succeeding year, with its dis- 
cussions, conventions, and trials for heresy, widened 
the lines of divergence and whetted the points of 
antagonism. With much of heroic devotion to prin- 
ciple, as well as with much of mingled human infirmity 
and error on both sides, the contest waxed hotter and 
hotter, until it reached its culmination in the exscind- 
ing acts of 1837 and the division of 1838. 

Of late years it has become quite the style to speak 
in a tone of deprecating pity of these ecclesiastical 
battles of forty years ago, as though they were mere 
quibbles about words or disputes about the tithing of 
the mint and the anise and the cummin, and to quote 
them as proofs of a very low state of piety and of the 
prevalence of a rabid spirit of scholasticism and of 
dead orthodoxy ; but it becomes us to beware lest we 
fall into the condemnation of those who, " measuring 
themselves by themselves and comparing themselves 
among themselves, are not wise." Deep and strong 
convictions of truth and of duty, and a firm adherence 
to these convictions at any cost, can never be a just 
cause of reproach to Christian men. For such con- 
victions believers in all ages have been " tortured, 
not accepting deliverance," and have counted their 
blood as cheap as water when shed in such a cause. 
They " contend earnestly for the faith " because that 
faith is infinitely precious to them. A Church or a 
Christian without sharp and distinctive beliefs is a 
body without a spinal column, bones, or marrow. If 
ever the time comes when men shall not care to de- 
fend what they hold as Presbyterians or Methodists 
or Baptists or Congregationalists, the time will have 



PRESBYTERIANISM IN THE UNITED STATES. 79 

come when men will not care to defend the truth of 
the Gospel at all. If to be a Presbyterian makes a 
man any the less a Christian in any sense or in any 
particular, then let us burn our Confession of Faith 
and our Book of Government ; let us tear down and 
tear up the banner which was carried by our fore- 
fathers through so many persecutions. But if Pres- 
byterianism is scriptural in theory and holy in its 
practical results, then let us never be afraid or 
ashamed to avow it. A Church without a creed is to 
one which has a creed as the hyssop on the wall is to 
the cedar of Lebanon or as the jelly-fish is to the 
Nemean lion. The danger is not that we shall hold 
these doctrines too firmly or cherish them too 
sacredly, but that through remissness and indiffer- 
ence we shall let slip the precious trusts which have 
come down to us on rivers of martyr blood. 

It is a significant and remarkable fact, and one 
which deserves especial emphasis at our hands, that 
those years of controversy and debate which pre- 
ceded the division of 1837 were years of spiritual 
growth and prosperity in the Church, " the Holy 
Ghost thus signifying " that the doctrines of the gospel 
are the wisdom of God and the power of God unto 
salvation even when preached in strife and debate. 
Better preached thus than not to be preached at all. 
We are not justified in passing judgment on these 
men of '37, some of whom linger among us, who, 
" firm in the right as God gave them to see the 
right," followed their convictions straight to the issue, 
regardless of sacrifices or consequences. 

The division of 1838 was followed by a period of 
tumult, litigation, and readjustment. The ploughshare 



8o OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

ran through most of the synods and presbyteries, and 
through many of the churches even. Certain loose 
elements which were set afloat by these riving proc- 
esses oscillated between the two bodies for some 
time, but at last attached to one or the other of them, 
or else drifted away to other spheres of ecclesiastical 
attraction and affinity. When the dust and smoke of 
the conflict were dispelled, the view revealed two 
Presbyterian Churches with the same Confession of 
Faith and the same Form of Government and the 
same Book of Discipline, working side by side in the 
same field, yet having differences which were quite 
characteristic and distinctive. 

The Old School Church was to a remarkable degree 
homogeneous in its constituent elements, and was dis- 
tinguished for a rigid orthodoxy and a strict ecclesi- 
asticism. The New School Church, on the other 
hand, was not homogeneous in its constituent ele- 
ments, and was distinguished for a liberal construc- 
tion of the standards, and for an ecclesiasticism which, 
for the sake of the voluntary and co-operative system 
of beneficence, put in jeopardy the interests of a just 
and necessary denominationalism. The Old School 
Church continued in its orbit, in possession of its titles, 
dignities, and endowments, while the New School 
Church, against its will, was flung off into a new and 
untried sphere. The Old School Church had a well- 
defined policy, and went right on in its course, with 
scarcely a jar or a jostle in its ecclesiastical operations. 
The New School party, stunned by the sudden and 
summary blow of excision, without a legal status and 
beyond the pale of its wonted ecclesiastical relations, 
was at first without a fixed policy ; and through 



PRESBYTERIANISM IN THE UNITED STATES. 8l 

abounding magnanimity refusing to disentangle itself 
from incongruous alliances, was by these alliances 
seriously distracted and weakened. Its generosity, 
magnanimity, and charity are beyond all praise, but 
unhappily these amiable and noble qualities outran 
the less dazzling and sterner attributes- of wisdom, 
prudence, and a just conservatism. The experiment 
of an amalgamated Presbyterianism, therefore, was 
made in propitious circumstances, under favorable 
conditions, and by those whose sentiments and sym- 
pathies rendered the effort a sincere and cordial one ; 
yet the experiment failed, and the failure has gone 
into history. There is nothing in this that is de- 
rogatory to the party which made the experiment, but 
it is, on the contrary, in the highest degree honorable 
to it that in the circumstances the experiment was 
made ; yet the failure is none the less significant and 
instructive. 

The changes which were made in the constitution 
by the New School Church were soon discovered 
to be disastrous to the interests at stake and to the 
efficiency of ecclesiastical operations, and the mistake 
which had thus been made was speedily rectified by 
restoring the " Book " to its original form and by rein- 
stating it as the constitutional law of the Church, both 
in the letter and in the spirit of it. In the violent 
agitations, and amidst the swift and turbulent currents 
which succeeded the division, the Church had been 
swept somewhat from its moorings, but as soon as the 
storm had subsided it swung back to the safe harbor 
and the strong anchorage of constitutional Presby- 
terianism. 

The theory of co-operation and of undenomina- 



82 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

tionalism, in spite of the most unselfish and liberal 
efforts in its behalf, gradually broke down, and the 
pitiless logic of facts forced the Church to adopt a 
policy against which her charity and her sympathies 
reluctated, but w T hich the solemn calls of duty and the 
urgent exigences of the times not only justified, but 
rendered imperative. She undertook to educate her 
own ministry, to create and disseminate her own 
literature, and to conduct her missions in her own 
fields in her own way ; and when to a well-defined 
task she set her hand, the work glowed beneath her 
touch. A new energy thrilled along every fibre of her 
organic life. Full of hope and zeal and enthusiasm, 
with a united and inflexible purpose, she entered upon 
a new era in her history which was as radiant with 
promise as the roseate sky mantling with the blushes 
of the morning. She had come at length to a clear 
conception of her mission. She saw her work dis- 
tinctly and emphatically outlined in a field which sug- 
gested and invited boundless effort ; and to that work 
she went, with heart and mind and soul exulting in the 
free play of her untrammeled individuality. 

The Old School, at the time of the division, had 
a wonderfully homogeneous constituency, a clearly 
defined theology, a pure Presbyterian form of govern- 
ment, a fixed policy, an enthusiastic unanimity of 
sentiment, leaders of consummate ability, the prestige 
which accrued from its legally recognized status, an 
ecclesiastical machinery ready to its hand, a definite 
work to do, and an entire singleness of purpose in the 
prosecution of that work. The Board of Missions 
(Domestic) and the Board of Education had already 
been organized and in operation for a score of years. 



PRESBYTERIANISM IN THE UNITED STATES. &$ 

In the stormy year of 1837, amidst the tumults of 
excision and division, the Board of Foreign Missions 
was organized, and into this board was at once 
merged the Western Foreign Missionary Society, 
which had been formed and operated by the synod of 
Pittsburgh for six years previous to this date ; and 
thus " the wall was built even in troublous times.' , 
Nor did this old church, even amidst the absorbing 
interest and excitement of such a crisis as that of 
1837, forget for so much as an hour that " the field is 
the world. " The Board of Foreign Missions, which 
was then constituted, has continued to this day to be 
a source of steadily increasing power and blessing, and 
on its records are the names of as heroic men and 
women as ever planted the cross among savage men 
or amidst " the pestilence that walketh in darkness/' 
and its martyrology is as glorious as that which was 
enacted in the Coliseum or in the imperial gardens of 
Nero. 

With a full recognition of the power of the press 
and of the supreme importance of a sound theological 
literature, the Board of Publication was organized in the 
year 1838. Out of the work of Domestic Missions grew 
the Church Erection Fund of the New School Church 
and the Board of Church Extension of the Old School 
Church, both of which were merged at the reunion 
into the Board of Church Erection. Nor has the 
Church forgotten her worn-out veterans and their 
widows and orphans, and her efforts in their behalf 
resulted in the Board of Ministerial Relief. The 
benevolent agencies of the Church are not cunningly 
devised frame-works of abstract and finely spun 
theories, but each one of them has arisen out of the 



84 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

actual necessities of the work and the urgent, emphatic 
demands of the times. They are a growth, a develop- 
ment, not an invention. 

In both branches of the Church, during the separa- 
tion, the subject of slavery produced earnest discus- 
sion and deep, widespread agitations. In the New 
School Church the deliverances on the subject by the 
General Assembly became more pronounced from 
year to year. The Northern portion of that Church 
became gradually, but surely, more emphatic in its 
anti-slavery convictions and utterances, while at the 
same time the Southern portion, through a variety of 
potent and subtle influences, was quietly slipping 
away from the testimonies of the Church against 
slavery, and assuming the position that slave-holding 
was sanctioned by the Bible and was an institution not 
only to be tolerated but defended. Of necessity the 
breach between the parties became wider and wider 
each succeeding year. Their views were so diver- 
gent and so utterly irreconcilable that there was no 
hope or possibility of a compromise. The crisis came 
in the year 1857. The Southern synod withdrew. 
The debates preceding the schism were candid and 
fraternal, and the parties separated without bitterness 
and with sincere mutual respect and love. 

In the meantime the political horizon grew black 
with angry and portentous clouds, and muttering 
thunders gathered to a storm in which not only 
churches went asunder, but in which States which 
were knit together by ties of brotherhood " were rent 
with civil feuds and drenched with fraternal blood." 
Amidst the trooping furies of an awful civil war the 



PRESBYTERIANISM IN THE UNITED STATES. 85 

Old School Church was riven asunder, the split 
following the line which separated the loyal States 
from those which were in rebellion against the 
Federal government. 

At this point a word is necessary in regard to the 
attitude and the teaching of the Church on the sub- 
ject of slavery. The testimony of the Church on this 
matter has always been clear and explicit. In the 
year 1787 the Synod of New York and Philadelphia 
" highly approved of the general principles in favor 
of universal liberty that prevail in America, and the 
interest which many of the States had taken in 
promoting the abolition of slavery," and " recom- 
mended to all their people to use the most prudent 
measures, consistent with the interest and the state of 
civil society in the counties where they lived, to pro- 
cure eventually the final abolition of slavery in 
America." This action was reaffirmed in 1793. 1° 
the year 1815 the General Assembly " declared their 
cordial approbation of those principles of civil liberty 
which appear to be recognized by the federal and 
State governments in these United States," and urged 
the presbyteries under their care " to adopt such meas- 
ures as will secure at least to the rising generation 
of slaves within the bounds of the Church a religious 
education, that they may be prepared for the exercise 
and enjoyment of liberty when God in his providence 
may open a door for their emancipation, " and the 
same Assembly denounced "the buying and selling 
of slaves by way of traffic, and all undue severity in 
the management of them, as inconsistent with the 
spirit of the gospel." 

The immortal paper upon the subject which was 



86 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

adopted by the General Assembly in the year 1818 
begins with these ringing words : " We consider the 
voluntary enslaving of one portion of the human race 
by another as a gross violation of the most precious 
and sacred rights of human nature, as utterly incon- 
sistent with the law of God which requires us to love 
our neighbor as ourselves, and as totally irrecon- 
cilable with the spirit and principles of the Gospel of 
Christ, which enjoins that ' all things whatsoever ye 
would that men should do to you, do ye even so to 
them '; " and the entire paper is in the tone and spirit 
of its initial sentence. The action of 1845 deals with 
the single and specific question as to whether slave- 
holding per se and "without regard to circumstances 
is a sin and a bar to Christian communion "; and that 
action did not in any way or to any extent nullify or in- 
validate the former deliverances of the Church courts 
on the subject. The General Assembly of 1846 de- 
clared that in its judgment the action of the Gen- 
eral Assembly of 1845 was not intended to deny or 
to rescind the testimony often uttered by the Gen- 
eral iVssembly previous to that date. Upon the 
deliverance of 1818 the Church as a body has always 
stood. To have abandoned that ground at any 
time would have rent the Church in twain. 

Up to the time of the division the united Church 
occupied that ground. After the division in 1837 
the utterances of the New School Church on the 
subject grew clearer and sharper every year. Dur- 
ing the same time the Old School Church, while she 
was not aggressive on the subject, but for the sake 
of peace and charity was conservative, yet stood 
firmly by her past testimonies, so that even during 



PRESBYTERIANISM IN THE UNITED STATES. 87 

the Civil War and after the abolition of slavery she 
had not to change a sentence or a letter in her 
record, nor to adjust in the slightest her attitude so 
as to put herself in line and sympathy with the moral 
forces of the times. While the General Assembly 
thus held the ground of 1818, it must nevertheless be 
confessed that a rapid change of sentiment was going 
on in the Southern portion of the Church, until finally 
the bold position was assumed that slavery as an 
institution was right politically and morally, and as 
such was to be defended and conserved, but the 
Church as a Church never held nor sanctioned such 
views. The spirit of both the Old and the New 
School Churches was to bear unequivocal testimony 
against the system of slavery as an institution, and 
yet at the same time to exercise the largest charity 
toward those who, through no fault of their own, 
were involved in the evils of that system. If, there- 
fore, the Church committed an error, the error was 
on the side of charity ; and if there were those who 
proved recreant to her testimonies and who abused 
the " charity that hopeth all things," the fault was 
theirs, not hers. Whatever may have been the errors 
of individual members or of portions of her com- 
munion, I am bold and proud to say that there is 
nothing in her records on the subject of slavery of 
which she need be ashamed or for which she need 
offer an apology. 

Amid the fearful throes of rebellion both Churches 
were in full sympathy with the government in its 
efforts to restore order and to preserve the integrity 
of the nation, making their voices heard and their 
influence felt in favor of supporting the " powers that 



88 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

be as ordained of God," and both Churches rejoiced 
and sang hallelujahs when, in the providence of God, 
slavery, the cause of the rebellion, was utterly over- 
thrown and ground to powder. Neither, in their 
ardent loyalty to their country, did they forget their 
allegiance to their Lord, nor were they, even in these 
perilous times, derelict in carrying forward the stand- 
ard of the cross. 

In the suspense and danger and agony which 
attended the ravages of war, Christians of all 
denominations were drawn closer to each other. 
Great union associations, such as the Christian Com- 
mission, threw different Churches into contact and 
sympathy. This was specially the case with the Old 
and New School Presbyterian Churches. In the 
furnace of affliction their hearts were fused and 
mingled. They began to look each other in the face, 
to take each other by the hand, and in doing so they 
found that their hands were warmed by the same 
Presbyterian blood, and that their pulses beat to the 
same Christian hopes and purposes. They found 
that they had imperceptibly come together, that they 
were standing on common ground, that God had been 
leading them by a way which they knew not. 

Each Church, in its own sphere and in its own way, 
had been working out important problems under the 
guidance of Divine Providence. In its own sphere, 
and according to the laws of its inner life, the New 
School Church had freed itself from alien elements 
and entangling alliances, and had become a homo- 
geneous Presbyterian body both in doctrine and 
government. The Old School Church, straining her 
conservatism to the utmost tension, hoped and prayed 



PRESBYTERIANISM IN THE UNITED STATES. 89 

that the dark and perplexing problem of slavery 
might be solved in peace and charity and without the 
stern arbitrament of the sword. But God willed other- 
wise. The fetters of the slave must be dissolved in 
blood. Standing bravely by her testimonies against 
slavery and bearing her witness against treason and 
rebellion, the Old School Church calmly awaited the 
decisive events of Providence ; and when the schism 
of the Southern Church came, taking from out her 
pale the slavery issue, she felt herself relieved of a 
weight which had grievously beset her for years. 

Thus God in his wise and mysterious providence 
had settled the issues between the two Churches. 
All that was left was for them to acknowledge and 
accept what God had done. The union of the tw T o 
bodies was consummated on November 12, 1869, in 
the city of Pittsburgh, Pa., and the two Churches 
became organically one on the basis of the standards, 
pure and simple, and under the title of the Presby- 
terian Church in the United States of America, form- 
ing, as we trust, a true Church of Christ, whose up- 
lifted banners shall become a rallying-point for all 
Presbyterians on the continent, where they may meet 
and settle all differences in a way which will be 
honorable to all parties, where the scattered Presby- 
terian tribes may flow together as the tribes of old 
Israel poured to Zion, and shall become one, and shall 
be to all the world the best representative of a true 
unity which is not formed by external appliances, as 
though bound by hoops of steel, but a unity which is 
developed and strengthened by a conscious and in- 
telligent oneness of intellectual belief and spiritual 
life — one not as a wired skeleton is one, but as a living 



90 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

man is one ; a broad Church not in the sense of being 
latitudinarian, but broad in Christian sympathy and in 
the worldwide scope of Christian effort. 

Since the reunion the progress of the Church has 
been steady, harmonious, and rapid. With past aliena- 
tions, feuds, and bitternesses buried utterly out of sight 
and out of hearing ; united, hopeful, and " strong in the 
Lord "; bound by indissoluble ties of brotherhood and 
fellowship to those of our own household of faith, 
and with ardent and ample charity for all others, we 
stand on the threshold of the new century, and with 
devout thanksgiving to God for the past and for the 
present we hail and welcome the great future. 

Such is the past. Its perils, its toils, its journeyings, 
its disasters, its achievements, its conflicts, its dis- 
couragements, its declensions, its revivals, its mighty 
sermons, its high debates, its struggles, its privations, 
its sacrifices, its rewards, its failures, its successes, its 
hopes, its disappointments, its divisions, its reunions, 
its unheralded and unrequited labors — have all gone 
into their place, and have performed their part in ful- 
filling the purpose of God toward this land and the 
world. They form a picture of surpassing interest — 
a picture strong in blended light and shadow, but 
having withal much more of light than of shadow. 
We have good reason to be proud of our Presbyterian 
ancestry, for what they were, for what they achieved, 
and for what they represented. We have a glorious 
heraldry, but we must not rest in these. 

The great Roman satirist lashes with whips of 
scorpions the degenerate sons of the Curii and the 
Lepidi, who with dice and wine and soft voluptuous- 



PRESBYTERIANISM IN THE UNITED STATES. 91 

ness melted away their dissolute lives in the statued 
halls of illustrious ancestors, where every tablet 
groaned with a wealth of genealogical lore and every 
wreath and chaplet was redolent with glorious mem- 
ories. Let us be careful that we incur not such 
satire. We have been sitting beneath our genealogi- 
cal tree and rejoicing in its stanch branches and in its 
capacious shade. We have been gathering up the 
articulate lessons and the solemn, inspiring voices of 
the century that is gone. Let these lessons and voices 
only quicken us to read aright the signs of the times, 
and to hear and to interpret rightly the voice of God 
as it comes to us in his Word and his providence, that 
through watching and prayer, through faithfulness 
and self-sacrifice, the present may not be a lie and a 
slander on the past, but that it may be a consistent 
opening and preparation for a brighter and grander 
future. 



Til. 



THE DISTINCTIVE PRINCIPLES OF 
PRESBYTERIANISM. 



Ill 

1 HE DIS1 ENC1 [VE PRINCIPLES 01 
PRESBY1 ERIANISW 

Prom eternity God chose a people for himself. 
The idea of the Church rests upon and springs out of 

the eternal purpose of Jehovah. In the working out 
of this eternal purpose the divine thought assumes 
form and visibility in time. The true people of God 
as they are known to him throughout all the a: 
those who have been, and those who will be redeemed, 
constitute the invisible Church. But since man can 
only judge as to who are the people of Cod by a 
credible profession, " all those who profess the true 
religion, together with their children," constitute the 
visible Church. The Church, therefore, in its idea 
and necessity, rests upon no tradition or expediency, 
not upon apostolical authority alone, not upon a 
happy after-thought of God, but upon his blessed, 
eternal purpose according to the counsel of his own 
will. As to churohism — if we must have it of all 
dimensions, high, low, and broad- — here is churchism 
which in its " breadth and length and depth and 
height M is commensurate with the " love of Christ, 
which passeth knowledge." 

In the government of a God "whose bosom is the 

*At the Second General Council of the Presbyterian Alliance, 
Philadelphia, September, 1880 



g6 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

home of law," which law is voiced in the harmony of 
the world, this visible Church must have a form, an 
organization. It is a body. The earth, which is pre- 
served from fire for the sake of the Church, swings 
through the ranks of marching suns to the music of 
the spheres. This God of order would not leave his 
highest creation — the Church — to go on at random 
or in anarchy. Here, naturally and presumably, we 
should expect the highest type of law and order and 
government ; of power regulated ; rights guarded ; 
order maintained, with all due liberty of thought and 
action. 

I. Presbyterianism maintains, therefore, that there 
is a Church ; that there has been a Church from the 
beginning of human history ; that the plan of the 
Church lay in the mind of God before the foundations 
of the world were laid. This is high-churchismof the 
right kind. 

II. This Church, then, has a founder, a lawgiver, a 
governor, a king, a head ; and this king, lawgiver, and 
head is Christ. Presbyterianism maintains, always 
has maintained, and always will maintain so long as 
true to herself, the supreme headship of Christ. To 
his Church Jesus Christ has given laws and a form of 
government. To him alone is the Church responsible 
for what she does in her legitimate and appropriate 
sphere. These laws given by Christ to his Church 
are contained in the Scriptures of the Old and New 
Testaments, which Scriptures — 

III. Presbyterianism holds to be the only and suffi- 
cient rule of faith and practice ; the Bible, the Bible 
alone, and the whole Bible. To this principle Pres- 
byterianism has always been loyal; always " fol- 



PRINCIPLES OF PRESBYTERIANISM. 97 

lowing God's word," as the immortal Rutherford 
has it. 

Richard Hooker — nomen clariun etvenerabile ! — in his 
"Ecclesiastical Polity" begins the discussion at very 
long range, concerning law in general, law of nature, 
of angels, of reason, etc., then Scripture. On the 
other hand, Presbyterianism begins, continues, and 
ends with Scripture — with all Scripture. After we 
have learned what the Scripture saith it is time enough 
to consult antiquity, history, canons, nature, or logic. 
The Old Testament and the New Testament are not 
antagonistic nor contradictory, nor inconsistent the 
one with the other ; the one is not a supplement to 
the other, nor is the New Testament a feeble apology 
for the Old, but both alike are the Word of God. 
The Church is one throughout the ages. Thus going 
to the Word of God, to the whole Word of God, rever- 
ently to learn what form of government Christ has 
given to the Church, and pressing out the very 
essence of all dispensations, and lifting the name 
right from the sacred page, with the breath of Jehovah 
upon it, we exclaim, Presbyterian ! 

What, then, is Presbyterianism ? 

1. First and most obviously, it is a Church govern- 
ment in the hands of Presbyters (elders) ; and of 
these there are two classes — viz., teaching elders and 
ruling elders. Every ordained teaching Presbyter 
has authority to discharge all ministerial functions — 
viz., to preach the Word, to administer the sacra- 
ments, to dispense discipline. There are no orders 
in the ministry, such as characterize Prelacy — Bishops, 
Presbyters, Deacons. Each Presbyter in the New 
Testament was, and by right is, a Bishop — a Bishop 



98 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

in the sense of an overseer of the flock, not an over- 
seer of his brethren. Associated with the Presbyters 
— who, besides ruling, " labor in word and doctrine " 
— are others whose peculiar function it is to rule ; 
hence called Ruling Elders. 

These ruling elders are not laymen, but are chosen 
from among laymen, and are ordained to a spiritual 
office, and in ecclesiastical courts represent the people, 
and in these ecclesiastical courts have equal powers 
with the teaching elders. It is conceded on all hands 
that the office of ruling elder is perpetual, and in 
logical Presbyterianism the exercise of this spiritual 
office should no more expire by limitation of time 
than the exercise of the spiritual office of a preaching 
elder should expire by limitation of time, or than the 
exercise of a man's spiritual gifts and graces should 
expire by limitation of time. 

Each congregation is governed by a bench of 
elders. From the lowest court to the highest the 
power of the keys is in the hand of Presbyters, and 
this Presbyterian authority is episcopal. We have no 
controversy with Episcopacy. We hold it, believe it, 
teach it, practice it, defend it. Each Presbyterian 
minister is a bishop — is indeed the only scriptural 
kind of bishop ; an episcopos, overseer of the flock, but 
not a lord over his brethren. We are Episcopalians, 
truer ones than those who arrogate the name to them- 
selves, for they have but few bishops, whereas we 
have many. Prelatists are they, but scriptural Episco- 
palians they are not. We are Episcopalians, but not 
Prelatists. Prelacy has no foundation in the Word of 
God. It is a human device, a human invention, a 
human after-thought. 



PRINCIPLES OF PRESBYTERIANISM. 99 

The government of the Church is by elders ; and 

2. This government by elders binds the Church 
together organically. Each court is subordinate to 
a higher court — the Church Session to the Presbytery, 
the Presbytery to the Synod, the Synod to the 
General Assembly. The power of the Church is not 
in the whole body of believers, but representatively 
it is in these courts. There is no scriptural example 
of ordination by one presbyter, but by Presbytery; 
so there is no scriptural example of authority exer- 
cised by one bishop, but by an assembly of bishops, 
Presbyters. Thus order, decency, discipline, in the 
house of God are secured, and at the same time the 
rights of every member are carefully guarded. The 
proceedings, conclusions, findings, and judgments of 
all lower courts are subject to review by the higher 
courts, and this review carries with it control. No 
congregation is or can be independent, but is an 
integral part of the Presbytery, and the Presbytery is 
an integral part of the Synod, and the Synod of the 
General Assembly. An independent Presbyterian 
Church is an anomaly — a monstrosity. Thus we 
have 

3. Unity. Many members forming one body, and 
the body in subjection to the head ; a living organism, 
not a unity secured by arbitrary power, not the unity 
of iron bands which make the chariot-wheel one, but 
the plastic power of an informing inner life which 
makes the cedar of Lebanon one, or the oak of Bashan 
one, with many members. There is a strong govern- 
ment, but this government is only ministerial. The 
Church can make no laws to bind the conscience. 
She can only administer the law as laid down in the 



IOO OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

Word of God. It is constitutional government — gov- 
ernment according to the divine constitution. 

And, 4, this unity is catholic. 

If Presbyterianism be jure divino, it is and must be 
catholic. " We believe in the Holy Catholic Church ;" 
and besides this, Presbyterianism is the only form of 
government which can really give scriptural expression 
to this catholicity. Papacy or Prelacy can no more 
do this than Napoleonic imperialism could give 
expression to the catholicity of human freedom. 
Catholicity, moreover, is an instinct of Presbyterianism. 
In the Book of Discipline of the Kirk of Scotland, 
as early as 1581, it is declared, " Beside these assem- 
blies, there is another more general kind of assembly, 
an universal assembly of the Church of Christ in the 
world, which was commonly called an ecumenic 
council, representing the universal Church, which is 
the body of Christ." 

Rutherford in " Divine Right " declares that " ecu- 
menic and general councils should be, jure diyino, to 
the second coming of Christ " (58). 

Gillespie says : " Besides provincial and national 
synods, an ecumenical, or more truly a general, or, 
if you please, an universal synod" (Prop. 36). 

(a) This scheme of government therefore is logical 
and symmetrical. Each part fits to its fellow without 
jar or friction ; the body develops naturally and har- 
moniously into full, rounded proportions, without 
excrescences or monstrosities; "the building, fitly 
framed together, groweth unto an holy temple in the 
Lord." 

(b) It is logical and symmetrical because it is 
scriptural. It claims to be jure divino. Normal, 



PRINCIPLES OF PRESBYTERIANISM. IOI 

healthy Presbyterianism — Presbyterianism which has 
the breath of life in its nostril, the pulse-beat of life 
in its wrist — has never abated a jot or a tittle of that 
claim. If the system be not jure divino, if it be not 
scriptural, let us know it and let us have done with it. 
Let us understand ourselves, brethren, and then the 
world will understand us. Our right to be here as a 
General Presbyterian Council rests on the fact that 
our system in government as well as in doctrine is 
jure divino. Our catholicity is not to be maintained 
by a dilution of our Presbyterianism ; we are not to 
reach comprehension by beating out the gold of the 
sanctuary until it becomes so thin that it can be put 
to the base purposes of tinfoil. If our system be not 
jure divino, we as Presbyterians, especially as a Pres- 
byterian General Council, have no right to exist. Let 
us not be ashamed of our birthright ; above all, let 
us not sell it at Esau's price. 

Boast they of apostolical succession ? We claim 
patriarchal succession. Presbyterianism is older by 
millenniums than the apostles. The apostles only 
take their place in the unbroken line of Presbyterian- 
ism, which had been in successful operation for thou- 
sands of years before Peter cast his first net or caught 
his first fish. At Horeb, in the light of the burning 
bush, nee tamen eonsitmebatur, Moses received his 
great commission, which ran thus : " Go, gather the 
elders of Israel together." Jehovah sent Moses down 
to Egypt to convene the Presbytery. Through the 
elders, the representatives of the people, he was to 
act, and through them he did act. From the burning 
bush at Horeb, Moses went to Presbytery. There 
were Presbyterians ages before Peter was born, or 



102 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

Rome was builded, or Prelacy or Papacy was ever 
heard or dreamed of. We date far beyond apostolic 
times. One purpose runs through the ages. The 
Church is one in all dispensations. There is but one 
plan of salvation. Abel was saved through the blood 
of the Lamb. At Sinai, and during the sojourn in 
the desert, the elders represented the people. The 
establishment of the monarchy left the Presbyterial 
government of the Israelitish Church intact. Let it 
be borne in mind that the Israelitish Church and 
state were not identical. Gillespie and Rutherford 
set that at rest for ever. 

The government of the synagogues was Presby- 
terian. The death of Christ abolished the temple 
service, which was sacrificial and ritual. There was 
no more need for altar, or priest, or sacrifice. Christ 
fulfilled the law by taking the place of the types. 
When the temple service was thus abolished there 
remained the form and service of the synagogue ; and 
the first converts being Jews, the synagogue model 
was ready to hand. There was no revolution ; when 
ritualism was abolished by the sacrifice of Christ the 
Presbyterianism of Moses remained. There is not a 
scintilla of evidence for any other form of government 
in the New Testament. Diocesan bishops are un- 
known to the New Testament. Neither is there any 
trace of Independency or Congregationalism in 
Judaism. 

The lines of the covenant run from one dispensa- 
tion to another unbroken, only expanding so as to 
embrace all who shall believe, of all nations, together 
with their children. 

The system is scriptural, and because scriptural it 



PRINCIPLES OF PRESBYTERIANISM. 103 

is logical and symmetrical. It is not first made logi- 
cal, and Scripture made to square with it, but it is 
drawn directly from the Word of God, not cunningly 
framed to meet some exigency or expediency, not ac- 
cording to any prepossessions. The eternal thought 
of Jehovah takes form and visibility in just and due 
proportion. Presbyters are identical with bishops in 
New Testament usage. On this point there is an 
unbroken chain of authorities from Augustine to the 
present Bishop Lightfoot. 

Paul called presbyters of the Church of Ephesus 
bishops (Acts xx. 17, 28). 

The apostles ordained them elders in every church 
(Acts xiv. 23). 

Peter, himself an elder, charges elders as bishops, 
overseers, and pastors of the flock, but not " lords over 
God's heritage." 

Presbyters were ordained by the laying on of hands 
of the Presbytery (1 Tim. iv. 14). 

An accusation against a presbyter could not be 
entertained except in and by Presbytery before two 
or three witnesses (1 Tim. v. 19). A presbyter is 
entitled to a fair trial by his peers. That was Paul's 
presbyter, according to the glorious Samuel Ruther- 
ford. Throughout the Bible from end to end the 
Church is Presbyterian, from the times of Moses to 
and through the times of the apostles — from the 
Shekinah of the burning bush to the Apocalypse of 
John. Jehovah sent Moses to the elders of Israel, 
and in the Apocalypse the elders, together with angels 
and cherubim, worship and preach and sing the new 
song in company with the countless multitude before 
the throne. In the visions of John there are no prel- 



104 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

ates, but the elders are there, and are there representa- 
tively. From the household of the antediluvian 
patriarch to the worship of the apocalyptic Church in 
heaven, the thought and scheme and spirit of the 
Bible are Presbyterian. 

(c) And, being scriptural, it is historical. 

That apostolical Presbyterianism was in the third 
century superseded by Prelacy is only too obviously 
true, but this Prelacy came not by the door of scrip- 
tural authority, but, like a thief and a robber, climbed 
up some other way. From Judaism and paganism it 
crept in, bringing with it altars, priests, sacrifices, and 
the elaborate ritual appropriate to these ideas. 

During the Middle Ages, whenever and wherever a 
witness for the truth arose, who by the study of the 
Word of God had been instructed and quickened, and 
who, thus instructed and quickened, desired to lead the 
Church back to apostolical simplicity and purity, there 
we find a Presbyterian. This is true of all the fore- 
runners of the Reformers and of all the Reformers ; 
and in every country the Reformation was conducted 
on Presbyterian principles except in England. Prel- 
atists say Presbyterianism is not historical, but it is 
historical in apostolical times and in the best ages in 
the world's life. If it ever is submerged it is in the 
days of the deepest corruption, when it is confessed 
that Prelacy held the field. 

Nor is Presbyterianism simply a form of ecclesiol- 
ogy, but, going as it always does to the Word of God, 
it there finds a system of doctrine which is much 
more important and precious than any form of polity. 
Excellent as our form of government is, it is withal 
only the casket which contains and conserves the 



PRINCIPLES OF PRESBYTERIANISM. 105 

treasure of sound doctrine. We put doctrine first, 
form of government secondary — the form only to give 
proper expression and efficiency to the doctrine. So 
that, with all its strength and clearness of conviction, 
Presbyterianism is catholic and charitable in spirit and 
in sympathy. 

Presbyterianism, then, is not a mere form or badge, 
but a system of doctrines and principles, the form 
being appropriate to the doctrines, the history of 
which can be traced back along a line of fire to the 
Apostle Paul, and thence to the burning bush at Horeb. 
The true line of succession does not consist in the 
unbroken continuity of empty, extra-scriptural forms 
and ceremonies, but in the continuous holding forth 
and passing forward of the vital doctrines of the Gos- 
pel, accompanied by the spirit and power of true 
godliness. The line passes on from Abel, the first 
martyr, to Enoch, the seventh from Adam ; from 
Enoch to Noah, the preacher of righteousness ; from 
Noah to Abraham ; from Abraham to Moses ; from 
Moses to Paul ; from Paul to Augustine ; from 
Augustine to Claudius of Turin ; from Claudius to 
the Waldenses in their Alpine fastnesses, to Succat, 
commonly known as St. Patrick, a good, sound Pres- 
byterian ; from Succat through the Culdees ; thence 
through every witness of the truth during the Middle 
Ages; thence through the Reformers. Along the 
whole line stakes and fagots have blazed, and along 
the whole line Presbyterian blood has been sprinkled 
and ashes of martyred Presbyterians have been 
scattered. 

Kings, prophets, patriarchs, all have part 
Along the sacred line. 



106 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

This system is scriptural, logical, and symmetrical. 
The form is not a mere shell, but is a body for vital 
forces which live and move and work ; which work, 
moreover, within prescribed limits according to 
established laws. We are not dealing with dead 
forms, but with living principles. For example : 

i. The headship of Christ as held by Presbyterians 
renders Papacy impossible. Christ is King alone, 
and has on earth no vicar. He has no deputy, and 
needs none, and he who usurps such an office pre- 
sumptuously puts himself in the place of God. Christ 
has no vicar, but he as King sends out his ambassa- 
dors, his ministers, and they declare his will, they 
preach the Word. They are not to minister at an 
altar, not to parody the one infinite sacrifice of the 
Son of God ; nor are they sent to amuse or astonish 
the people with the fancies and crudities of their own 
imaginations, but to declare the will and counsel of 
the ever-living, all-ruling King. This will of the King 
has been written, put on record for us in his Word, and 
this is our rule, our only rule, our sufficient rule. 

This sound, simple principle sweeps utterly away all 
theories of tradition, all theories of quod semper, quodubi- 
que et quod ab omnibus, and all theories of development. 

All intelligent and honest papists and prelatists 
know that their svstems are not found in the Bible, 
and on that account they scout the idea of the suffi- 
ciency of Scripture : hence they base these systems on 
expediency, decency ; then they have fallen back on 
tradition, antiquity, Church history, the consensus of 
the ante-Nicene fathers ;* but being ignominiously 

* Note by Eds. — It is "sure that nothing like modern Episco- 
pacy existed before the close of the first century." — Dean Stanley, 



PRINCIPLES OF PRESBYTERIANISM. 107 

routed from these positions by advancing scholarship, 
Moehler suggested, and Cardinal Newman elabo- 
rated, a theory of development which can account for 
the Papacy apart from apostolic authority. Is it not 
suggestive, is it not decisive against them, that all 
these extreme prelatic theories, and just in proportion 
to their intensity, discredit the sufficiency of Scripture ? 
In the magical hands of Newman this development 
performs the most wonderful feats. He makes the 
Incarnation to be the antecedent of the doctrine of 
mediation ; this develops into the doctrine of the 
Atonement, and that into the doctrine of the mass 
and the worship of saints. In other words, the 
divinity and incarnation of our Lord develop into the 
worship of saints and relics. From the same source 
he draws the sacramental principle, and this develops 
into the seven sacraments, the unity of the Church, 
the Holy See, authority of Councils, sanctity of rites, 
veneration of holy places, shrines, images, furniture, 
vessels, and vestments. " The doctrine of tire sacra- 
ments leads to the doctrine of justification ; justifica- 
tion, to that of original sin ; original sin, to the merit 
of celibacy." With such a theory he only needs the 
last law of development which he lays down — viz., 
" Chronic Continuance" — to be able to achieve any- 
thing by development without either Scripture or his- 
tory, and for that matter without reason or common 
sense. 

The headship of Christ is potent against Popery, 
so also against Erastianism. To the Church is given 
no sword, but the power of the keys. The State 
bears the sword, the Church the keys, and Christ 
alone the sceptre. 



108 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

Ministerial parity as a principle is sharp, keen, dis- 
tinctive, and far-reaching in its sweep and power. It 
is a two-edged ploughshare which cuts up by the 
roots Prelacy and the very beginnings of hierarchical 
order, distinction, supremacy. As a principle this is 
the touchstone of Presbyterianism. Departure from 
this simple principle early in the history of the Church 
laid the foundation for the astounding claims and 
achievements of the Papacy of Hildebrand ; and 
departure from it, however slight, is always fraught 
with danger. 

Ministerial parity implies a ministry. Presbyteri- 
anism holds no uncertain views on this subject, but 
sound scriptural views, which the world greatly needs 
to hear. There is a Christian ministry, jure divino, 
and the sacred functions of this office — preaching 
the Word and administering the sacraments — are not 
to be assumed or usurped by anyone's taking this 
honor to himself ; but men are to enter this office 
according to the order laid down in the Word of God. 

If a man be called to preach, he is called of God, 
and called according to the divine ordinance. Here 
again we find in Presbyterianism a ploughshare, which 
cuts up by the roots the pestiferous weeds of Plym- 
outhism, and all forms of ecclesiastical insubordina- 
tion and anarchy : and may God speed the plough- 
share ! 

The office of Ruling Elder gives the people a 
representation in all ecclesiastical courts, and the 
people having a right to choose their own officers, 
the heart of the Church is thus brought near to the 
people, and the heart of the people is kept near the 
Church, 



PRINCIPLES OF PRESBYTERIANISM. 109 

Presbyterianism is an impregnable bulwark against 
spiritual oligarchy and spiritual monarchy ; and also 
against sacerdotalism, sacramentarianism, and ritual- 
ism. A Church truly Presbyterian can never become 
ritualistic, because ritualism is extra-scriptural. Even 
on the theory that the Christian Church is modelled 
after the temple service, it by no means follows that 
the Church must be prelatic ; but, on the contrary, it 
is quite true that the Levitical priests were not prel- 
ates, nor was the system in any of its features prelatic. 
But the temple service was abrogated by the one 
infinite sacrifice, offered once for all by our Great 
High Priest. Priesthood, altar, sacrifice, types, all 
vanished in the presence of the Antitype. He is a 
priest forever after the order of Melchizedek, not 
after the order of Aaron. He has no successor in 
office. Who now dares obtrude himself into the 
sanctuary as priest ? who dares to build again Jewish 
altars and to usurp the prerogatives of the one High 
Priest who, in the heavenly sanctuary, ever lives to 
intercede ? 

What a pitiable spectacle it is to see a poor mortal, 
tricked out in his vestments, manipulate a wafer and 
call it a sacrifice ! With this sacerdotal idea comes 
ritualism in all its modes, degrees, and extremes. 
Presbyterianism knows but one King and Head of 
the Church, and but one High Priest and Mediator, 
who " hath made us kings and priests unto God." 
The dowry through his blood is the universal priest- 
hood of believers. This is Presbyterian sacerdotalism. 

Presbyterianism gives strength and security just 
where these are needed, and gives this strength and 
security on scriptural foundations. It has liberty 



110 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

with strength as against the Papacy, and strength 
with liberty as against Independency. " Strength 
and beauty are in his sanctuary." We are not 
ashamed of our polity and form of government. We 
are not ashamed of its origin, of its history, of its 
past, of its present, of its hopes for the future. 

Presbyterianism is liberal, charitable unchurching 
no one, attaching more importance to purity of 
doctrine and of life than to any form of government, 
and is ready always with a good conscience to fellow- 
ship with all who " hold the Head "; and so in con- 
troversy she has always been on the defensive ; but 
when attacked she has always shown that she is able 
to take care of herself and the precious interests com- 
mitted to her. We are willing and anxious to live in 
peace and in charity and good-will toward all men, 
but if prelatists persist in unchurching us, and in 
spurning Presbyterian ordination, we retort by saying,. 
"Your Prelacy is unwarranted by Scripture ; and if 
you have nothing better than this figment of apostoli- 
cal succession, then your bishops are no bishops, and 
your Church is not a true Church." We are Episco- 
palians, true Presbyterian Episcopalians. 



IV. 
THE HISTORY OF PREACHING. 



IV. 

THE HISTORY OF PREACHING.* 

Fathers and Brethren of the Board of Direct- 
ors, and Christian Friends of this Assembly : 
It is expected that I should discuss, on this occasion, 
some subject connected with the department the 
charge of which has lately been devolved upon me by 
the Supreme Judicatory of the Church. With what 
sincere shrinking and self-distrust I enter upon its 
duties, I need not here express. As appropriate to 
the chair of History and Homiletics which I am to 
fill, I have chosen for my theme to-night, " The 
History of Preaching." 

In Eden, at the cool of the day, when the voice 
of the Lord was heard in the garden, preaching be- 
gan. That was the first religious instruction given 
to a man as a fallen creature needing salvation ; and 
that voice was the voice of Him who afterward 
preached on the mountain-sides and the seashores of 
Judea. The Messianic promise in that sermon con- 
tains the essence of all evangelical preaching ever 
since and till the end of time. It is the text of which 
Redemption is a divine elaboration — the bud of which 
prophecy and its fulfillment are the blossom, and a 
Redeemer crowned and a Church triumphant, the 
glorious fruit. 

- At the inauguration of the author as Professor in the Western 
Theological Seminary, April 27, 1858. 

113 



114 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

This, therefore, is the beginning and the basis of 
all preaching. 

The first distinguished preacher of whom we have 
any account is Enoch, the seventh from Adam. He 
had the primary requisites of his office — a vigorous 
faith and an ardent piety. He enforced his precepts 
by a consistent practice. His life was " visible 
rhetoric." While yet a young man, according to the 
standard of that age, " God took him " from the 
pulpit on earth to the choir in heaven. Jude gives 
us an idea of his preaching. The godlessness that 
brought the Deluge was then rapidly increasing. 
Against this, and amidst this, he lifted up his voice in 
no timid or ambiguous tones. He fearlessly pointed 
men to the judgment seat and the pains of an eternal 
retribution : and his course was approved, for before 
his translation " he had the testimony that he pleased 
God." 

Noah was " a preacher of righteousness " — " was 
perfect in his generation," and for more than a cen- 
tury preached to the skeptical antediluvians. This 
we know ; his style and manner are subjects of con- 
jecture. 

As early as the days of Moses, elocution was 
regarded as an important element of a preacher's 
success. When pleading to be excused from the 
mission to his brethren in bondage, his language is, 
" O ! my Lord, I am not eloquent : but I am slow of 
speech, and of a slow tongue." And the Lord said, 
" Is not Aaron, the Levite, thy brother ? I know 
that he can speak well" It is absurd, indeed, to 
attribute to Aaron theatrical tones and attitudes, but 
it is equally absurd to suppose that his discourses 



THE HISTORY OF PREACHING. 115 

were rude deliverances, with no regard to emphasis, 
intonation, or gesture. We have the word of God for 
it, that he could speak well, and the crisis justified his 
speaking as well as he could. 

Ezekiel's discourses were set off by an exquisite 
delivery. He had " a pleasant voice," and had it 
completely under his control. So flexibly obedient 
was every organ of speech that he is compared to 
one who could play well on an instrument. Those 
who cared nothing for the matter of his sermons were 
charmed and enchanted by the manner of them. 
They listened with rapture to the melody of his voice 
and the music of his periods. " He was to them as 
a very lovely song." Good elocution, therefore, is 
by no means a modern accomplishment. 

Samuel was the founder of theological seminaries. 
The first institution of the kind was at Naioth, near 
Ramah. Others were afterward established at 
Jericho, Gilgal, and Bethel, whither Elijah and Elisha 
often resorted. Under these venerable and inspired 
teachers, young men were trained for the prophetic 
office ; and from these seats of sacred learning they 
went forth in the spirit of their great masters. From 
this time onward we have a succession of prophets, 
which extends in an unbroken line to Malachi ; and 
an illustrious succession it is ! They not only served 
their own generation, but have left behind them 
works that will outlive the world. So long as there 
is a saint or a sinner on the earth, their words will be 
a power in the hearts of mankind. 

Almost every species of style, temperament, elo- 
quence, and delivery had its representative among 
these men. In this succession was the distinguished 



Il6 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

missionary and street-preacher of Nineveh, whose 
startling sermons brought a haughty king and two 
millions of his dissipated subjects to repentance. 
Here, too, we find the uneducated but sublime and 
fearless Amos ; the concise and pungent Hosea ; the 
Homer of prophets, Isaiah ; the fervid and imagina- 
tive Joel ; the copious and elegant Micah ; the glow- 
ing and graphic Nahum ; the tender-hearted Jere- 
miah, the John of the Old Testament ; the prayerful 
Habakkuk ; Daniel, the Christian statesman, who went 
to his closet for inspiration and political wisdom ; the 
tragic Ezekiel, the ^Eschylus of the Hebrews ; the 
earnest revivalists, Haggai and Zechariah ; and last of 
all, Malachi, on whose lips prophecy expired. 

Preaching from a pulpit and on a text began in 
the time of Ezra. History has afforded us few such 
scenes as we have in this reformer's preaching in the 
square before the Water Gate in Jerusalem. Upon 
a temporary " pulpit of wood which they had made 
for the purpose," he stood and preached " from the 
morning till midday," to a congregation of fifty thou- 
sand souls. That the young preacher of Surrey Gar- 
dens should keep the attention of ten thousand for 
three-quarters of an hour is considered wonderful, but 
here the attention of five times that number was kept 
for six hours. God's spirit was there, and a great 
revival was the consequence. That public square 
became a Bochim. The weeping of the people was so 
excessive that it had to be restrained. A correct read- 
ing and a faithful exposition of the Scriptures were the 
means. That day forms an interesting section in the 
history of preaching. Here, too, dates the origin of 
synagogues, which continued to multiply till the com- 



THE HISTORY OF PREACHING. 117 

ing of Christ, and in which, during all this time, 
preaching was regularly kept up. 

Now we glide in silence over a period of four cen- 
turies, nothing special arresting our attention, until we 
are startled by the voice of one crying in the wilder- 
ness. " In the spirit and power of Elias," who was 
his model and whose mantle had fallen upon him, 
John the Baptist went forth to preach to a careless, 
apathetic generation. Earnest, vehement, and orig- 
inal, he drew great crowds to hear him. His elo- 
quence thrilled like an electric current through the 
land. Such was his popularity that politicians 
trembled for the safety of the state ; and had he 
been a demagogue, he could have bidden the people 
bear him in triumph to a throne. As it was, such 
a hold had he upon the popular heart that Herod was 
afraid to put him to death. With his coarse raiment, 
solitary habits, and simple diet, he would, no doubt, 
nowadays, be considered eccentric, as perhaps he was 
then considered ; but there was an inspiration and 
power in his eccentricities. He was second to no 
human preacher whose words ever woke the echoes of 
this earth. Unawed by greatness or authority, his 
voice rang out as distinctly and decidedly against sin 
in the court as in the wilderness, on the commons or 
by the river-side. At the cost of his life he rebuked 
immorality. We have such an estimate of him as we 
have of no other mortal. He whose forerunner he 
was says of him, " Verily, I say unto you, Among 
them that are born of women, there hath not arisen a 
greater than John the Baptist." 

The ministry of the Great Preacher let us pass in 
awful silence. " He spake as never man spake." 



Il8 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

The child plays and prattles around the little cascade, 
but stands awe-struck and speechless at Niagara. We 
are on holy ground, we are in the presence of a divine 
subject — let us, in adoring silence, pass on. 

In the apostolic age, Peter and Paul are the promi- 
nent figures that attract the attention of the most 
casual and careless observers. They are the repre- 
sentative preachers of their day — the* one an apostle 
to the Jews, the other to the Gentiles — the one a 
domestic, the other a foreign missionary. 

Ever since the Fall, the boundaries of revealed truth 
had been gradually extending, the horizon of man's 
spiritual vision enlarging, and the topics of religious 
discourse multiplying. By the life and death of 
Christ, the armory of the Christian orator had been 
replenished with wonderful facts and fulfilments. The 
kingdom of heaven had actually come. All the 
materials, equipments, furniture, and resources neces- 
sary for the full operation of a Christian ministry 
were ready. The crucifixion, resurrection, and ascen- 
sion were recent facts, to be wielded with prodigious 
power by the apostles. The day of Pentecost, there- 
fore, is an era in preaching. The pulpit occupied 
a higher level that day than ever it had before — com- 
manded a more extensive and astonishing view than 
ever before, and received, as its legitimate possession, 
topics which it never reached till then. Peter then 
announced that the work of redemption was complete. 
Christ actually crucified was preached for the first 
time. It was an illustrious inauguration of the New 
Dispensation. Three thousand souls will celebrate it 
in heaven forever and forever. 

The sermon was a model one. It is thoroughly bibli- 



THE HISTORY OF PREACHING. II9 

cal. Verbal quotations from the Old Testament com- 
pose fully the half of it, and what is not in the letter, 
is in the spirit of the Bible. It is evangelical. Christ 
is the theme throughout. Every sentence is a tribute 
to his name, and work, and character : and if Peter 
was the first Pope, he preached a very different doc- 
trine from his " infallible successors." He gives no 
hint of any Mediator but One. He gives to his Re- 
deemer undivided glory, and puts upon his brow an 
undivided and untarnished crown. 

Had the sermon been delivered in our time, the 
preacher would be pronounced, by some, an ultra- 
Calvinist. He hesitates not to speak of " the deter- 
minate counsel of God," and makes no apology for 
using such language. 

It is bold. He charges his congregation with Dei- 
cide. He valiantly takes up and adopts the reproach- 
ful title the Jews had given his Saviour, and preaches 
to them Jesus of Nazareth. Nor was it a harangue 
without order or object. His purpose was to prove the 
Messiahship of Christ, and the accountability of his 
hearers, and never for an instant does he lose sight of 
it. He advances to his conclusion as directly as an 
arrow goes to the mark. There are no digressions or 
episodes until he announces his " Therefore." Those 
who look upon preparation and premeditation as a 
reflection upon the promised grace and assistance of 
God, find little to support their opinion in this great 
inaugural sermon of the New Dispensation. 

This was the kind of preaching that filled Jeru- 
salem with the doctrines of the apostles, and made 
the proud Sanhedrim tremble under the conscious 
guilt of the Redeemer's blood. 



120 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

In the meantime a diligent young Jew was prose- 
cuting his studies on the banks of the Cydnus, stroll- 
ing for relaxation through the woods that lined its 
banks, or, for more vigorous exercise, scaling the 
craggy tops of the Taurus mountains, all the while 
nursing his pharisaic prejudices and dreaming of pro- 
motion in the Church of his fathers. While with 
callous and sunburnt hands Peter was plying his nets, 
this ambitious young Hebrew was studying law with 
Gamaliel. He left Jerusalem amidst the conflicting 
joys and regrets with which a student leaves college ; 
he returns to the city with the fury of a persecutor. 
He was one of the mob that hurried Stephen to his 
martyrdom. This horrible tragedy only increased his 
thirst for blood. He is away to Damascus in pursuit 
of his prey. Past Bethel and Shiloh and Gilboa, 
Ebal and Gerizim and Jacob's Well, the fiery young 
inquisitor hurries on in a frenzy of bigotry and 
pharisaic zeal, on an inhuman errand to the oldest 
city in the world. But instead of persecuting the 
Church, he preaches Christ when he gets there. In 
that city, rich in patriarchal associations, began the 
ministry of Paul. How shall we get his dimen- 
sions ? Spiritually and intellectually, his propor- 
tions are gigantic. Beside him, modern preachers 
are like ordinary sized men beside the Colossus of 
Rhodes. 

At Antioch, where first arose the name that is to fill 
the earth, within sight of the grove of Daphne, the 
first farewell meeting for missionaries was held. 
After prayer and the laying on of hands, and we can 
well imagine, tearful partings, " Saul and Barnabas 
were sent away," the simple but impressive cere- 



THE HISTORY OF PREACHING. 121 

monies strangely contrasting with the orgies in the 
neighboring grove. 

The first field visited by these regularly appointed 
missionaries was the island of Cyprus. Amidst the 
groves of Paphos, where Venus is fabled to have 
arisen from the foam of the sea, they preached the 
Gospel. From this place Saul carries with him a new 
name, and henceforth Paul becomes the prominent 
actor in the Apostolic Church. Past places immortal 
in history he presses on in his journey, envying not 
the great Athenian the combined laurels of Salamis 
and Plataea, as he passes the spot where they were 
won in one day. At Perga he stops to preach Christ 
to the devotees of Diana, as he afterward did at 
Ephesus. Up through the mountain passes of 
Pisidia, whose ruggedness and dangers had worried 
the patience and perseverance of two whom the world 
calls Great ; " in perils of robbers," for he was amidst 
dens of them ; with blistered feet and aching limbs, 
he toils on to preach to the citizens of the Capital for- 
giveness through the blood of the Redeemer. Thence 
he goes to Iconium, the cradle of the Ottoman empire. 
Leaving civilization, he penetrates the wilds of 
Lycaonia, exploring districts where " water was sold 
for money," to preach to the uncultivated pagans of 
Lystra and Derbe. Weary and wounded, scarred and 
blackened by stoning, he turns to retrace his steps. 
Scorning to take a near cut home, he revisits the 
scenes of his persecutions and sufferings, braves again 
the enmity of the Jews at Iconium — dares the dangers 
of the Pisidian passes — struggles across the plains of 
Attaleia — and, once more at Antioch, gives to the 
Church the first missionary report. 



122 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

Soon he is away on a second tour. Past the home 
of his childhood — over the Taurus mountains — 
through the Cilician gates (a narrow defile, for the 
possession of which Cyrus and Alexander spent both 
blood and treasure), he is back again to Derbe 
and Lystra and Iconium. He spends the period of 
sickness and convalescence in preaching the Gospel 
to the volatile Galatians. As a soldier of the Cross 
he treads the plains of Troy, where once rattled the 
Grecian and Trojan war-chariots ; and where Alex- 
ander gathered inspiration for the conquest of the 
world, at the tomb of Achilles, he girds himself for 
the evangelization of Europe. Bruised and sore, 
from scourging and the stocks, he leaves Philippi 
and goes to Thessalonica, where, after the arduous 
labors of a day of missionary life, he works till late at 
night at his trade to eke out a frugal subsistence. 
Persecution chases him to Berea. His enemies dog 
him to this retired village. As a fugitive he passes 
the vale of Tempe and Olympus, " the home of the 
gods"; but his thoughts go higher than the throne 
of Jupiter, and trusting to a mightier power than the 
" red right hand " of Olympus' chief he sails for 
Athens. Classic associations cannot detain him 
there. In a few days he is in Corinth — the Paris of 
the old world — working diligently at his trade 
through the week and preaching in the synagogue 
on the Sabbath, and in the intervals of his toil writ- 
ing letters to the disciples in Thessalonica. Once 
more he is at sea, sailing among the gem-like islands 
of the ^Egean. He stops but a little while at 
Ephesus, but long enough to preach Christ. Across 
the Mediterranean again he sails to Caesarea, visits 



THE HISTORY OF PREACHING. 123 

Jerusalem, and goes once more to Antioch, where he 
was ordained as a missionary. And comes he to 
throw up his commission? No! He equips him- 
self with higher resolves and renewed zeal for greater 
conflicts than ever. Toiling through his native 
Cilicia, through Galatia and Phrygia, he redeems his 
promise and comes to Ephesus. Next we find him 
at Troas. Across the JEgean again, he visits Neapo- 
lis and his beloved Philippians — poor, but liberal 
Philippians — and from this point pushes his mission- 
ary researches almost if not quite to the shores of 
the Adriatic : then down through Greece, he pays 
the Corinthians a last visit, and in the house of Gaius 
writes the immortal letter to the Romans. Hired 
assassins are on his track, and he is driven up 
through the north of Greece, over the plains where 
the fate of Rome as a republic was decided, and 
across the fields that Homer has peopled with his 
heroes. Again he is on the ^Egean. The scenery 
is enchanting — classic associations are swarming 
around him, and he can appreciate them too, but his 
thoughts and his heart are in Ephesus. Behold the 
pastor ! He sends a message to the elders for them 
to meet him at Miletus. They eagerly comply, and 
upon the seashore hear, for the last time, the Gospel 
from the lips of their beloved Paul. He tears him- 
self away from his broken-hearted congregation, and 
is soon floating again over the blue waters of the 
Mediterranean. While the vessel is discharging 
freight at Tyre, Paul is up in the city preaching. 
At Caesarea his girdle is made a symbol by which to 
predict for him chains and sufferings ; but his own 
prophetic instincts had anticipated any warning of 



124 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

that kind. The weeping and remonstrances of his 
friends wring his heart, but the prospect of martyr- 
dom moves him not. The prophetic intimations 
were not false. Scarcely is he in Jerusalem till he 
is in the hands of a mob. Rescued by the police 
from a violent death, he is likely to receive as little 
mercy at the hands of the civil power. He is 
actually stretched on the rack, and but for the 
talismanic words, I am a Roman citizen, would 
have been cruelly tortured. Forty men bind them- 
selves by an oath to neither sleep nor eat till they 
have taken Paul's life. By an escort of Roman 
soldiers, therefore, he is hurried to Caesarea, and is 
thence sent to Rome for trial. While the ship is 
lying at the wharf at Sidon, the apostle is on shore 
engaged in pastoral labor. A shipwrecked prisoner, 
he evangelizes Malta. After a long and disastrous 
voyage, jaded by travel, and galled by fetters, he 
comes at last to the city of the Caesars. He does 
not wait to know the issue of his trial. He is 
bound, " but the word of God is not bound." He 
throws open his house and invites the people to his 
ministry, and to it they come in crowds. For two 
years he preaches constantly, from morning till night, 
his chains clanking upon him at every gesture 
he makes. That manacled, emaciated prisoner 
wields in Rome a power mightier than that of Caesar 
or the Senate. His words thrill through the brave, 
hard hearts of the praetorian guards. He has con- 
verts in Caesar's household. And let us hope at least 
that Seneca learned from him something better than 
Stoic philosophy. 

At last he is at liberty. Surely the old man will re- 



THE HISTORY OF PREACHING. 1 25 

tire now ! He is hardly out of prison until he is away 
on a tour of pastoral visitation to the Eastern churches, 
and then to the far West, accomplishing his long con- 
templated visit to Spain. Stooping beneath the 
weight of seventy years, his constitution, never 
rugged, now shattered by hardships and exposure, he 
carries the Gospel to " the utmost bounds of the 
West." Then northward he goes to " those inclem- 
ent shores, which the lordly Roman shivered when 
he named," and, if tradition is to be believed, he 
preached in the streets of London, then returned to 
Rome and received his crown. 

Such was preaching, and such was a preacher's life 
in the first century. Congregations did not then 
assemble in solemn churches, and sit devoutly in their 
pews. Paul preached to the Jew in the synagogue, 
and the pagan in the streets ; his text in the one 
instance being a Messianic prophecy, in the other an 
inscription upon an idol god. He adapted his lan- 
guage and his thoughts to the unlettered barbarian 
and the erudite Athenian — to the Attic philosopher 
and the Corinthian merchant — to the lounger in the 
market place and the king in his palace — to the 
beggar in rags and to Caesar in his royal purple. 
When speaking in his own defence, he forgets his 
cause to plead the cause of his Master. Dragged 
bleeding from an infuriated mob, he stops on the 
stairway of a Roman prison to entreat his per- 
secutors to be reconciled to God ; and may we 
not presume that the eloquence which made the 
old profligate Felix tremble, would also startle the 
young wretch Nero ? As Paul was arraigned at 
his bar, we may feel assured the tyrant would not 



126 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

go to judgment without hearing of Jesus and his 
Atonement. 

The Apostolic age was succeeded by the Patristic. 
After the death of the apostles the prominent minis- 
ters were their pupils, the apostolic fathers, some of 
whom had seen Christ in the flesh. 

There was no special change in either the manner or 
the matter of preaching. The ministry became less 
itinerant and more local. As yet they had no church 
edifices. When they could, they availed themselves 
of the synagogues. Ordinarily they met in private 
dwellings. Gaius is called the host of the whole 
Church, because 4 they assembled at his house, which 
was convenient and commodious. Benches to accom- 
modate the hearers, an elevated seat for the preacher, 
and a table for the elements of the Supper, consti- 
tuted the simple paraphernalia of these primitive 
places of worship. Their meetings, which, according 
to Pliny, took place very early in the morning, were 
social, and all their exercises were free and familiar. 
They were untrammeled by any conventional rules or 
customs. After hearty congregational singing, much 
prayer, and lengthy readings of Scripture, the preacher 
delivered, in an easy conversational style, a short 
sermon on some portion of the Scripture that had 
been read. 

Their intimacy with the apostles is what dis- 
tinguishes these men, whom we take as the represent- 
ative preachers of their age. These were the com- 
panions of those who had been the companions of the 
Lord. They were brought into close and sacred con- 
tact with inspiration and apostolicity, until inspiration 
and apostolicity ceased. As these men received the 



THE HISTORY OF PREACHING. I27 

indorsement and approbation of John and Paul, they 
need no vindication of ours. 

The apostolic fathers were succeeded by the apolo- 
gists, and into this class we shall admit more than 
those technically so called, including all from Quad- 
ratus to Augustine. 

In those days Christianity needed able and valiant 
defenders, and it had them. Emperors, philosophers, 
wits, satirists, humorists, atheists, infidels, pagan 
zealots, the snarling Cynic, the sensual Epicurean, the 
cold Stoic, the proud and polished disciple of Plato, 
and the Jew, with his chronic prejudices, were all up 
in arms against the rising sect. 

In the Roman empire religion was incorporated 
with all their civil, social, and domestic relations. A 
blow at their religion, therefore, struck their whole 
civil and social fabric. Hence, demagogues and 
politicians cried havoc to Christianity ! Men who in 
their very hearts loathed paganism and laughed at it, 
were yet furious in its support for the sake of the 
state. The conflict between the two powers was a 
death-struggle, and they knew it. No wonder it was 
desperate and bloody. When to be a Christian was a 
capital crime, the apologists stood up nobly in defence 
of the truth. 

" Tenterden steeple was the cause of Goodwin 
Sands. " Upon the Christians was heaped the blame 
of all calamities. If there was not enough rain in 
Africa or too much in Italy ; if the Nile did not over- 
flow its banks or if the Tiber did ; if there was an 
earthquake in Asia or a fire in Rome ; a pestilence in 
Ethiopia or a famine in Egypt, it was all attributed 
to the evil influence of the saints. In the courts of 



128 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

kings, the apologists intrepidly defended their religion 
from all such attacks and aspersions. 

Pliny had scouted the idea of Providence, had pro- 
nounced immortality a dream, the nature of man a lie, 
and had lauded suicide as a virtue. The Stoics saw 
nothing better than obstinacy in the heroic fortitude 
of the martyrs, and it was gravely debated whether 
by philosophy it might not be possible to acquire the 
same intrepidity as the Galileans acquired by mad 
fanaticism. The fact they could not deny ; but they 
would neutralize its effect by attributing it to a wrong 
cause. Miracles were classed along with the tricks 
of magicians and vagabond jugglers. The spread 
of Christianity was accounted for by the extreme 
credulity of the age. The Greek scholar, too, came 
gayly to the attack, with all the gallantry of a knight- 
errant. If Lucian had a shaft of wit sharper than his 
wont, he winged it against Christianity. The wisdom 
of Celsus was scandalized by the simplicity of faith. 
That the Gospel was offered to the illiterate and the 
poor on the same terms as to the philosopher, was a 
mortal offence to his pride. To him, humility was 
meanness ; the Atonement was his scorn. He made 
himself merry over the supposed uncomeliness of 
Christ's person. Porphyry, with the pinion and the 
eye of an eagle, swooped over the field of sacred 
history to search for contradictions and discrepancies. 
Hierocles hissed on the hounds of persecution ; and, 
when the Church was torn and bleeding, had the im- 
pudence to address " words to Christians from a lover 
of truth." Old sages, and heroes, and contemporary 
impostors were held up as compeers, if not superiors, 
of Christ. Against all these the apologists defended 



THE HISTORY OF PREACHING. 129 

their religion manfully. They parried blows, come 
from what quarter they might. In the presence of a 
power that had their lives at command, they spake 
out heroically, and the thanks of all succeeding ages 
are due to them for it. 

But these men were earnest preachers as well as 
gallant polemics. Justin Martyr would go home 
from contests with skilful dialecticians, where all his 
hellenistic culture was called into active requisition, 
to meet a few plain, simple-hearted disciples, who 
were awaiting him at his own house, or go to some 
cave or other secluded spot to preach the Gospel 
to those who were ready to risk their lives to hear it. 

Let us go into one of these assemblies. Every- 
thing, even to the apparel of the congregation, is 
plain and unostentatious. There is a hearty, sincere 
affection between the members. The test of disciple- 
ship, love to one another, is there. Christianity has 
disenthralled and exalted woman, and she is here 
along with, and on a level with, her husband. An 
atmosphere of prayer pervades the room. These 
people live beneath the droppings of the Mercy Seat. 
They begin not their ploughing in the fields or their 
labor in the workshop without prayer. Now all is still- 
ness and solemnity. At a desk, some distance from the 
pulpit, arises the reader. He is a youth, possibly a boy 
ten or twelve years old. He reads passages from the 
Old and New Testaments, which are heard with eager 
attention. A necessity for much reading of Scripture 
in public arises from the scarcity and costliness of 
copies of the Bible. There are men in the assembly 
who, although they are unable to read a word, can 
nevertheless repeat the greater part of the Bible from 



130 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

hearing it read at Church. The reading is inter- 
spersed with singing, which, although it is not artistic, 
is powerful enough in its fervent simplicity to make 
such men as Augustine weep. After the devotional 
exercises, the preacher from his seat — the congrega- 
tion standing — delivers his sermon. 

Sermons were much more frequent then than now. 
There was one at least on almost every day in the 
week and several always on the Sabbath, two or three 
sometimes during the same service. In length they 
varied from ten minutes to two hours. In structure 
they were simple, mostly expository. Sometimes 
they were written out and memorized ; sometimes 
they were read from manuscript ; sometimes the sub- 
ject was studied, and the speaker clothed his thoughts 
as he went along ; sometimes they were delivered 
from short notes, and sometimes were quite extem- 
pore. 

The illustrious names of this period — and there is 
a host of them — need not feel aggrieved at Chrysos- 
tom's representing them. Augustine, indeed, was a 
profounder thinker ; Jerome, a better scholar ; Atha- 
nasius, an abler debater, and with more influence in 
deliberative bodies ; Origen was a greater critic ; the 
Gregories were more learned theologians and stronger 
controversialists ; Tertullian had more acumen ; 
Ephraim Syrus had a more splendid fancy ; Basil the 
Great had a purer style, and was more of a belles- 
lettres scholar ; but Chrysostom was pre-eminently 
the preacher of the age. 

He grew up in the genial sunshine and the pure 
atmosphere of a pious mother's influence. He enjoyed 
the very best advantages of education. He studied 



THE HISTORY OF PREACHING. 131 

eloquence in the school of the man whom Gibbon 
calls "the last glory of expiring paganism/' and in 
that school carried off the palm without a competi- 
tor. During his short practice of law, he would learn 
much of human nature and human depravity. Four 
years he was in a cloister, and spent his time in 
studying the Bible. Two years he was in solitude on 
the mountains, and spent his time in the same way. 
Six years more he devotes to hard study at Antioch. 
At forty he preaches his first sermon. No hasty 
preparation here ; no hurrying from Jericho before 
the beard had grown. Antioch is soon full of the 
fame of the young preacher. For twelve years he 
labors faithfully in his first charge, and is then called 
to Constantinople, where his eloquence drew to his 
pulpit ten thousand hearers. 

His mind was vigorous, comprehensive, fertile, and 
well disciplined. His imagination was brilliant and 
his heart full of fervor and tenderness. His exalted 
nobleness exposed him sometimes to the charge of 
pride. His command of language was wonderful. 
" The common people heard him gladly." He was 
eminently a popular preacher. Instead of allegorizing, 
refining, philosophizing, and elaborating subtleties, 
he wrung from the text its true spiritual import, and 
gave it to his congregation in its purity. He had 
great versatility. Every species of eloquence almost 
can be found in one of his sermons. His delivery 
was earnest and impetuous. He spake with great 
ease, grace, and naturalness. His declamation must 
have been magnificent. Even when speaking from 
memorized manuscript he worked loosely enough in 
the traces to take advantage of any extempore 



132 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

thought. If the attention of his congregation was 
diverted by the sexton's lighting the lamps, or by any 
noise in the streets, a paragraph of the sermon would 
be devoted to it. He used material wherever he 
found it, and used it well. On his way to church he 
sees a number of sufferers in the street, and that 
morning preaches an extemporaneous sermon on 
charity. 

Eutropius, the prime minister of Arcadius, was an 
unscrupulous villain. From his persecutions, persons 
often fled for asylum to Chrysostom's church, and 
the pastor always bravely refused to deliver them up. 
Eutropius, therefore, had the right of asylum abolished. 
Times changed. The first man who fled to that altar 
after the law was enacted was Eutropius himself. 
Chrysostom comes into church on Sabbath morning 
and finds him lying at the altar, when he delivers a 
thrilling extempore address on the vanity of the 
world. " Vanity of vanities/' he exclaims, as he sees 
the crestfallen tyrant. He calls the roll of departed 
honors, pomps, luxuries, offices, and hopes, and lets a 
melancholy echo answer the call ; then turning to the 
humbled courtier, reminded him of the faithful warn- 
ings he had given him. He lashed the sins of the 
city without mercy. He had not to go to Sodom, 
Gomorrah, Nineveh, Tyre, or Sidon, for themes. He 
found enough to talk about at home — in Antioch and 
Constantinople. A corrupt court smarted beneath 
his scourge. He called the queen a Jezebel and a 
Herodias. His invectives against royal iniquity 
remind us of John Knox. But even this golden- 
mouthed prince of preachers sometimes so far forgot 
himself as to play upon words, and once indulged a 



THE HISTORY OF PREACHING. 133 

desire to be singular so far as to write three sermons 
on the text, " Salute Aquila and Priscilla." 

From the time of Augustine, the tone of the pulpit 
steadily deteriorated, until at last it became the merest 
jargon. Religion gradually left the heart and en- 
throned itself in the intellect, the imagination, and the 
senses, and as the result, we have scholasticism, mysti- 
cism, monasticism, ritualism, celibacy, and supersti- 
tion. There were other enemies of literary and re- 
ligious life at work in those days besides the barbarian 
hordes that overthrew the Western Empire. The 
Asiatics are constitutionally dreamy and contempla- 
tive. This is as characteristic of them as thought and 
action are of Europeans. Plato is more Asiatic than 
any of the Greeks ; consequently he was the favorite 
of the Mystics. Beneath the combined influence of 
this temperament and philosophy, the active, vigor- 
ous, living Christianity of the first century degener- 
ated into a mopish sentimentality. The fancy 
usurped the place of conscience. Religion consisted 
in a passive, listless, dreamy semi-consciousness, an 
introversion of the thoughts, an abstraction from 
everything objective or practical, until the man became 
a spiritual and an intellectual chrysalis. We would 
expect such a system to produce every species of 
fanaticism and insanity, but would go elsewhere for 
pulpit eloquence. 

Monasticism was calculated to dwarf the intellect, 
narrow the mind, freeze the affections, and render the 
most generous outgoings of our nature stagnant. It 
is from beginning to end a system of selfishness, self- 
torture, and self-conceit. The benevolence of the 
anchorite terminates on the salvation of his own soul. 



134 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

He is either unwilling or afraid to grapple with the 
actualities of real well-doing. The system is calcu- 
lated to make misanthropes and lazy slovens— almost 
anything, indeed, but good preachers. 

Prosperity and royal favor, moreover, loaded the 
Church with a splendor and a ceremonial that well- 
nigh smothered her inner life. Architectural taste 
and display were considered as of more importance 
than genuine piety. The spiritual was sacrificed to 
the aesthetic. 

A temporary expediency, too, threw down the bar- 
riers that had kept the unworthy out of the Church. 
Heathen rites and snatches of heathen mythology 
were adopted in order to conciliate the pagans and 
effect a compromise between the two systems, so that 
Christianity came to be little more, little else, indeed, 
than a baptized paganism. 

As with the Church, so with the pulpit. When the 
preacher's office came to be attended with honor, ease, 
affluence, and influence, instead of persecution, self- 
denial, and death, there was a rush of the unworthy 
into it. Men actuated by the most mercenary 
motives sought the office of the ministry. Worldly- 
mindedness, pride, hypocrisy, low intrigue, chicanery, 
selfishness, sluggishness, and ignorance distinguished 
the clergy. In the election of men to high places in 
the Church, spirituality was scarcely a consideration 
at all. Their rhetorical attainments, their political 
influence and financial tact, were of primary impor- 
tance, while piety was hardly allowed to occupy even 
a secondary place. 

Theological learning, as well as learning of every 
kind, steadily declined. Magical effects, that were 



THE HISTORY OF PREACHING. 135 

supposed to supersede altogether the necessity of 
education, were attributed to ordination. 

The want of good theological seminaries was also 
greatly felt. At first there was but one, that at 
Alexandria. Others were afterward established, but 
they were not adequate to the demands of the age. 
Among the Greeks, candidates for the ministry went 
to the schools of rhetoric which then flourished. The 
learning acquired there, although entirely secular 
and artificial, yet, when baptized by the Spirit of God, 
was consecrated to good ends, as in the case of 
Chrysostom, Basil the Great, the Gregories, and 
others ; but when in the absence of spirituality, a man 
took to the pulpit nothing but the rhetorical precepts 
and artificial manner and tastes of these schools, he 
made a sorry successor of the apostles. The pulpit 
then became a platform from which an orator 
exhibited to a congregation what graceful curves he 
could make with his arms, what exquisite attitudes 
he could assume, and how completely his vocal organs 
were under his control. In godly men it required 
grace to keep them from being intoxicated by the 
injudicious demonstrations of approval from their 
audience. What must have been the state of the 
Church when the pulpit was filled with men who 
aimed at nothing higher than to elicit a round of 
applause or incite a smile by some low witticism ! 

Charlemagne felt the necessity of an able min- 
istry, and directed his efforts accordingly, but for 
the want of competent teachers little was accom- 
plished. As few of the clergy had the intelli- 
gence to compose even very inferior discourses, 
homiliaria were prepared for them — sermons ready 



136 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

made to hand — so that they might have something 
to read to the people. 

Without descending to particulars, some idea of the 
pulpit in those days can be gathered from these 
generalities that have been given. It spoke all kinds 
of languages, until at last it emitted nothing but a 
mummery which neither preacher nor people under- 
stood. Alms-giving, asceticism, celibacy, flagellation, 
voluntary beggary, and mystic contemplation took 
the place of the blood of Christ. Men preached 
pilgrimages, purgatory, the martyrs, Plato, Aristotle, 
or a crusade — anything, indeed, but Christ. Those 
who dared to speak the truth were silenced by perse- 
cution or driven into exile. But we emerge into the 
light again. 

The Reformation was a revival of religion, and 
consequently a revival of evangelical preaching. 

As early as the sixth century, Gregory the Great 
found it necessary to urge upon the clergy the 
necessity of preaching more than they did ; and long 
before the times of Luther the pulpits had become, 
as Latimer quaintly remarks, " bells without clappers." 
Now the pulpit rang out once more joyously and 
distinctly with a pure Gospel, and the churches 
became vocal with the earnest utterance of God's 
truth. Learning lit her lamps again. The Bible was 
brought out from cloisters, its lids were unclasped, 
and as it was opened it flung from its leaves a heavenly 
fragrance and influence. Instead of the chatterings 
of drowsy monks, or the wire-drawn distinctions of 
schoolmen, the people heard the Gospel in its purity. 
No longer compelled to listen to the rude deliverances 
of illiterate men upon the necessity of pilgrimages, 



THE HISTORY OF PREACHING. 137 

the sovereign virtues of relics and dead men's bones, 
or the primary importance of self-inflicted tortures, 
or self-imposed poverty, or insulated anchoretism, 
they heard with delight of the doctrines' of grace, 
Christ crucified, and justification by faith. 

Great crises develop great men. God makes emer- 
gencies, and he makes the men to meet them. All 
the world listens with respectful attention when, in 
the roll-call of the mighty dead, the names of Luther, 
Melanchthon, Zwingli, Calvin, Beza, Ridley, Latimer, 
Cranmer, and Knox are pronounced. These men all 
had their peculiarities and their failings, too, but they 
were earnest and evangelical, and left their mark 
indelibly upon the history of the race. 

Luther was bold, impetuous, overwhelming. 
Cowardice and indecision were no part of his nature. 
When he fastened his theses to the door of the castle, 
he drove the nails to the head. When he burnt the 
Pope's bull, he sent it into the fire with a defiant 
fling. When he hurled his inkstand at the devil's 
head, he did it with a steady and resolute aim. In 
the pulpit we recognize the same Luther. Melanch- 
thon, on the other hand, was mild, amiable, conciliat- 
ing. Luther was the storm, Melanchthon was the 
"still, small voice"; and the latter was often the 
more effective of the two. Knox, Calvin, and Beza 
have been thus described : " Knox came down like a 
thunder-storm, Calvin resembled a whole day's set 
rain, Beza was a shower of the softest dew." 

The preaching of these men was scriptural, direct, 
cogent ; sometimes uncouth and inelegant. There 
were sentences and passages in their sermons which 
would offend the delicate and fastidious ears of 



138 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

modern critics and congregations, but those sermons 
never failed to exhibit Christ and his cross. They 
never treated with timidity or false delicacy the 
subjects of man's apostasy, total depravity, and ex- 
posure to eternal wrath. They were earnest men 
engaged in a serious business, and they had no time 
to spend in toying with men's fancies, or coquetting 
with their tastes. Their anecdotes and illustrations 
were not used because they were elegant or beautiful, 
but because they served a purpose — not as mere tinsel 
and trapping, but as solid material. 

Uninspired men never produced more wonderful re- 
sults. Luther's words have been called " half battles." 
In his power to impress the popular mind, it is ques- 
tionable if Latimer was ever excelled. He did it in 
his own quaint, droll way, to be sure, but he did it. 
The ardent soul of Knox always rose superior to his 
frail body ; and he infused his own fire into his 
audience. 

Time will compel me to pass over, in very great 
haste, the history from this point to the present. 

Since the Reformation, the pulpit in all countries 
has undergone great vicissitudes. In England the 
simple, effective style of Latimer, Cranmer, and 
Jewell was soon lost, and a strained, stilted one was 
substituted in its stead, with which the people had no 
more sympathy than if it had been in the Sanscrit 
dialect. The king set an example of pedantry, and 
the nation, like a great sycophant, obsequiously fol- 
lowed. Sermons came to be little else than a display 
of shallow scholarship, an array of Greek and Latin 
quotations, an assemblage of bad puns, studied antith- 
eses and feeble alliterations. They were studiously 



THE HISTORY OF PREACHING. I39 

destitute of unction, or anything that savored of ear- 
nestness. The preachers would have been scandalized 
by the insinuation that they were affected by the 
truths which they professed to teach. They were 
immaculately innocent of being in the least moved 
themselves, or of attempting in the least to move 
others. 

Then came the Puritans, who, much as they may 
be scoffed at for their nasal twang, their sanctimonious 
eccentricities, and long, lumbering sermons, were 
nevertheless mighty in the Scriptures, and of con- 
sequence mighty in the pulpit, and have done a work 
which entitles them to the everlasting gratitude of 
Church and state. 

The seventeenth century boasts of many pulpit 
orators. Barrow was the first sermon-writer in Eng. 
land, and the second mathematician in the world — 
the model which the great Chatham copied, and 
whose sermons he had by heart. Baxter, when 
living, was admired by such men as Barrow and Sir 
Matthew Hale, and now his name and works have 
been embalmed in the hearts of five generations. 
Bunyan, with no learning, and a library consisting of 
the Bible and the Book of Martyrs, became one of 
the most powerful and popular preachers that ever 
lived, and produced works that have become the com- 
mon property of Christendom. Literary critics are 
as eager now to do justice to his genius and his Anglo- 
Saxon, as Christians always have been ready to honor 
his piety, spirituality, and experience. We can barely 
mention John Howe, Tillotson, South, Charnock, 
John Owen, and Jeremy Taylor. Such a constellation 
would shed glory upon any age. 



140 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

These men were not immaculately faultless, nor as 
a body are they so superior to the clergy of the 
present as to make us discontented with our lot. 
The division and subdivision of sermons they some- 
times carried to a ridiculous extreme. Even Baxter 
occasionally indulged his propensity for ingenious 
speculation in discussing topics that belong more to 
scholastic philosophy than to Christianity. Tillotson 
was by no means deeply evangelical. Dr. South 
rather wickedly exhibits the faults in the style of his 
illustrious contemporary, Jeremy Taylor. 

The reign of Louis XIV. was the Golden Age of 
pulpit eloquence in France. In proof of this it is 
only necessary to say that this was the age of Bos- 
suet, Bourdaloue, Massillon, Saurin, and Fenelon. 
Technically speaking, these names suggest all the 
highest excellence ever attained in the art of sermon- 
izing. In sacred oratory, Bossuet, Bourdaloue, and 
Massillon have a pre-eminence and an association 
akin to that of Demosthenes and Cicero in classic 
eloquence. In spirituality, faithfulness, and genuine 
earnestness they have been far enough surpassed by 
men to whose names belongs no such lustre as belongs 
to theirs ; but in them we find an elaboration, a com- 
pleteness of design, and an exquisiteness of finish 
which we seek in vain anywhere else. 

The echoes of the great and good men of the last 
century and of this still linger among our altars, and 
their virtues and memories are sacredly and tenderly 
treasured up in the sanctuary of our affections. Is 
there an Irish Protestant heart that does not beat 
quicker at the name of Kirwan or Carson ? To men- 
tion Christmas Evans, or John Elias, is to start the 



THE HISTORY OF PREACHING. 141 

tears in a Welshman's eyes. Have Scotchmen for- 
gotten M'Crie, Chalmers, or Edward Irving? Do not 
Vinet and Monod live in the affections of the French ? 
Have English arms or intellect achieved anything in 
the last century which Great Britain could not better 
afford to lose than the fame of Whitefield, Robert 
Hall, and John Foster ? An American feels almost 
sinfully proud when he repeats the names of Edwards, 
Davies, Griffin, and Mason. 

Such the History of the Pulpit has been. Whether 
in the future it shall grow purer and stronger, year 
after year ascending to a still higher level, from which 
Christ crucified shall be more fully exhibited, or 
whether it shall again become corrupt and imbecile, 
a blot and a disgrace — God knows. 

Shall we have preachers whose hearts are all aglow 
with love to Christ ? The Church needs them — the 
world demands them. No amount of natural or 
acquired ability can compensate for the lack of fervent 
piety. Intellectual sermons may be as clear and 
sparkling as icicles, and as cold. The moonlight is 
beautiful, but it is the heat of the sun that brings the 
verdure from the soil and ripens the fruit in its 
clusters. The truest eloquence earth ever heard is 
the unrestrained utterance of a heart full to over- 
flowing of love to God. Evermore give us that elo- 
quence ! 

And shall we have preachers mighty in the Scrip- 
tures ? There was an intimate connection between 
the eloquence of Apollos and his knowledge of the 
Bible. In all ages, in proportion as the pulpit has 
been biblical, it has been powerful. There is no 
danger that the Bible will be exhausted. Its subjects 



I42 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

never wear out. All other subjects do. Christ cruci- 
fied is a theme that will never grow old. 

And we want men who shall not only know the 
truth, but who shall not be afraid to speak it. He 
who preaches any doctrine of the Bible in an apolo- 
gizing, compromising way, is a coward. Those 
doctrines, when faithfully uttered, never fail to find a 
response in the hearts and experience of men. Let 
the Gospel be preached just as it is — and woe to the 
man who trims or temporizes for the sake of an 
ephemeral popularity ! 

Great responsibilities, therefore, devolve upon our 
theological seminaries. They must necessarily give 
tone to the pulpit. Most of all, it is expected and 
desired of them that they send out from their halls and 
lecture-rooms a re-enforcement of good preachers — 
men trained more for active service than for abstract 
speculation and scholastic theorizing — men in com- 
munion with their God, and in sympathy with their 
fellow-men ; whose ministrations shall not be cold, 
perfunctory task-work, but the earnest utterances of 
living truths, the power of which they have felt upon 
their own hearts, and are thus enabled to speak that 
" which they do know." 

Our piety and our patriotism unite in putting up the 
petition that in our land the pulpit may achieve its 
proudest triumphs — that Anglo-Saxon energy, enter- 
prise, and genius may have their highest development 
in the American preacher. It is said that " men go to 
Scotland to learn what to say, and to England to learn 
how to say it." God speed the day when they shall 
come to the United States to learn both what to say 
and how to say it. All the world should pray God to 



THE HISTORY OF PREACHING. 143 

send America an able ministry, for all the world has 
mighty issues at stake in this matter. " Westward," 
long since, "the star of empire took its way," and a 
tide of intelligence and true greatness came along with 
it. That tide will find its farthest limit on our shores, 
and then in a sublime ebb will roll back till it has 
covered all the East with millennial glory, and the 
nations shall see in reality what Ezekiel saw in 
vision — the waters of the sanctuary flowing from the 
Far West, and flooding the earth with righteousness. 



V. 
OUR COUNTRY CALLS— A WAR SPEECH. 



V. 
OUR COUNTRY CALLS— A WAR SPEECH.* 

Fellow-Citizens : I am a minister of the Gospel. 
I am no politician. If I looked upon this struggle as 
a mere political issue, I should not be here ; but I con- 
sider it as high above mere party politics as the 
heavens are higher than the earth. My allegiance is 
first to my God, next to my country. 

Is this issue worth all that it is costing us in blood 
and treasure ? I solemnly believe it is. 

In the balance over against the interests at stake, 
money is lighter than a moth-eaten feather. Let debt 
come. Out of the vital energy of your sinewy arms, 
farmers and mechanics, you will pay it. Let every 
acre in our farms, and every stone and brick in our 
houses be mortgaged. We will pay the debt, or we 
will bear it without a murmur, and when we die we 
will roll it over on our children, who will be worse 
than craven if they do not assume it cheerfully and 
bear it bravely. 

To estimate this issue in dollars and cents would 
be as monstrous as it would be to barter away a 
mother's love for husks that the swine do eat, or as 
it would be to trade and traffic in the affections of a 
wife or of a daughter. Gold is trash, silver is dirt, 
real estate is dung, when once thrown into the scales 

*At a Mass Meeting in Allegheny, July 24, 1862. 

H7 



148 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

against an undivided country, an unsullied national 
honor, an unstained and an untorn national flag. 

But is it worth the blood, the tears, the agony, the 
maimed bodies, the broken hearts that it is costing 
us? 

Yes ! and a thousand times more thrice told. 
There are worse things than death, or bloodshed, or 
war. Cowardice is worse. Dishonor is infinitely 
worse. Let blood flow until it reaches the throat- 
latches of the horses, rather than have one Star 
plucked from the galaxy of States — rather than have 
one inch of American soil alienated from the Consti- 
tution which our fathers gave us. 

Let no man " lay to his soul the flattering unction," 
that there can ever be two peaceful republics on this 
continent. In the language of Holy Writ, " Say ye not 
a Confederacy." We had better fight it out now than 
have incessant and interminable war hereafter. Se- 
cession consummated is the infernal Pandora Box 
from which will issue all imaginable and monstrous 
political evils for us and for our children, and for the 
world. Let one rod of American soil be wrested by 
force from the jurisdiction of the United States, and 
we may as well tear our flag to ribbons and sell it for 
rags. We may as well take the parchment on which 
the Constitution is written, and make lighting-papers 
of it. That proud banner would then no longer float 
on every sea and on every shore, the unchallenged 
emblem of republicanism triumphant ; but it would 
be jeered at by every despot and aristocrat on earth 
as the tattered, despicable symbol of the utter failure 
of popular government. 

The hour we fail in this struggle, the sun goes back 



OUR COUNTRY CALLS. 149 

fifteen degrees on the dial. Men of Pennsylvania ! 
shall it be so ? No ! over the smoking blood of 
Rippey and of Black, swear to-day that it shall never 
be so long as there is in Allegheny Co. a man to 
ram home a cartridge, fix a bayonet, or pull a trigger. 

If it must be so, let this land be deluged with blood. 
Out of that red and clotted ocean, civil liberty will 
arise regenerated and purified and resplendent as 
Minerva leaped in full panoply from the brain of 
Jupiter. 

There is no election left us in this matter. The 
bloody issue has been forced upon us, and we must 
meet it manfully, or lie down like whining spaniels 
at the feet of a treason-dyed aristocracy. Are ye 
ready for that, ye sons of Benjamin Franklin ? 

We call Heaven to witness that the loyal people of 
this country desired not blood. To a man they were 
for peace. While you were going on with your farm- 
ing, your merchandise, and your mechanic arts, per- 
jured traitors were secretly plotting the destruction of 
the best Government on earth. The conduct was so 
atrocious that you would not — you could not believe 
it. While you were at home quietly pursuing your 
peaceful callings, these iniquitous men were rifling 
our arsenals, drilling soldiers, and even training their 
guns on the flag-staff of Sumter. Still you could 
not credit the atrocity. 

At last came the consummation of the blackest 
villainy, perfidy, and treason in the records of all 
time. Men who all their lives had been dandled and 
fondled by the most indulgent Government in the 
world, deliberately shot down the Stars and Stripes, 
shouting and cheering as it fell. The heroic Ander- 



150 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

son and his gallant band left the hot and smothering 
walls of Sumter, carrying with them their colors, 
riddled with rebel shot. Then you and I, and all of 
us, started from our sleep. 

Pennsylvanians ! will ye ever sleep more until that 
outraged flag shall float again on Sumter, and over 
every nook and corner from which treason, for a time, 
has driven it ? 

The leaders of the rebellion have, of late, a very 
pious horror of bloodshed. But we all know per- 
fectly well that there was scarcely any other word in 
their vocabulary but blood until the spirit of the 
North awoke. Their horror of war and their let-us- 
alone policy were developed simultaneously by the 
" uprising of a Great People. " Mrs. Jeff. Davis had 
engaged a cook for the White House. Wigfall was to 
have been dashing up Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, 
on his prancing charger, last June, one year ago. 

Their meekness of spirit was induced by the de- 
termination and the sublime battle cry of the united 
North ; and if ever that meekness of spirit is to 
return to them, it will be through the same determi- 
nation and the same battle cry. 

In the sight of high heaven we protest that the 
loyal people of this nation are not responsible for this 
bloodshed. Upon the heads and souls of the rebels 
will cling with damning tenacity every drop of blood 
shed in this struggle. They would have it so, and 
now that the issue is fairly made let us not shrink 
from meeting it. We must meet blood with blood — 
steel with steel. 

Never did a Government bear so much from im- 
pertinent traitors as this Government bore. The 



OUR COUNTRY CALLS. ■ 151 

sword of retribution slept too long, but now that it 
has leaped from its scabbard, never let it again be 
sheathed until the very odor of treason is purged 
from the land. 

With you, fellow-citizens, rests the settlement of 
this contest. Let the people rise in their majesty 
and will it, and in less than six months treason will 
be crushed into the earth so deep that the trumpet of 
the Last Judgment will not awaken it. 

Oh, that we could feel our responsibility ! Oh, that 
we could, for once, get to the top of our high privi- 
leges ! 

Never have such responsibilities been rolled upon a 
nation as those that rest upon us in this crisis ; and 
the privilege is equal to the responsibility. But one 
such opportunity has occurred in the history of the 
world as that which is now offered to us. 

To you, fellow-citizens, are committed the interests 
of civil liberty and the destinies of popular govern- 
ment throughout the world, and for all time. Dare 
you prove recreant to the high trust ? It may be that 
this generation is to be made a vicarious sacrifice 
for posterity. No higher honor could be put upon 
it. Let the sacrifice be made. The eyes of the- 
world are upon us. The fate of unborn millions is 
involved in our conduct. Never did such incentives 
spur a nation to action. If we falter, if we balk, then 
henceforth let Ichabod — " the glory is departed " — 
be written on the forehead of every man-child born 
in the North. 

There is no use in disguising the fact : a perilous, 
a momentous crisis is upon us. The hour is big with 
the fate of the Republic. " It is high time to awake 



I52 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

out of sleep." The rebels are in awful earnest. 
Their leaders are fighting with halters about their 
necks, and of course they will fight desperately. 
They will scruple at no means. The life of a mudsill 
is nothing to them. They will slaughter their men 
like sheep for the shambles. Action, prompt, resist- 
less action, is the demand of the hour. This we must 
have, or all is lost. Let no man lay his head on his 
pillow to-night until his name is on the roll of his 
country's defenders, or until he has rendered to his 
conscience a good reason why his name should not be 
there. Don't wait to cure your hay or bind your oats. 
Your country is more to you than meat, and that 
country may be ruined beyond redemption before 
your harvest is gathered into your barns. 

Men of the North, awake ! arise ! arouse ! The 
reveille of liberty is beating ! Up ! up ! and to arms ! 
Rally to the colors ! 

Stay not for questions while freedom stands gasping, 
Wait not till honor lies wrapped in his pall ; 

Brief the lips' parting be, swift the hands' clasping, 
11 Off for the wars," is enough for them all. 

The issue is clearly, sharply defined. We must 
achieve by force the permanence of this Government, 
or go to our graves dishonored, and bequeath to our 
children and our children's children a heritage of 
taunts and sneers. We must accept the alternative. 
Alleghenians ! what say you? Shall your country 
cry to you for help, and cry in vain ? What is a man's 
convenience, what a man's life, in a contest like this? 

In the God of battles trust ! 
Die we may, and die we must ; 
But oh ! where can dust to dust 



OUR COUNTRY (ZALLS. 153 

Be consigned so well, 

As where Heaven its dews shall shed 

On the martyred patriot's bed ? 

Fall in ! fall in ! ye brave Pennsylvanians ! To 
the rescue of the old flag ! Liberty on her bended 
knees and with streaming eyes implores your aid. 
Take a solemn vow to-day that your life shall be at 
the service of your country until our eagles shall again 
sweep in triumph over every acre of American soil. 
Never had brave men so many incentives to heroic 
deeds. Treason is to be punished, blood is to be 
avenged, wrongs are to be righted, a country is to be 
saved. Strike, then ! 

Strike ! till the last armed foe expires ; 
Strike ! for your altars and your fires ; 
Strike ! for the green graves of your sires, 

God and your native land. 
Strike ! for tyrants fall in every foe ; 
Strike ! for Liberty's in every blow ; 

Forward ! let us do or die ! 



VI. 

MINISTERIAL CONSECRATION. 



' VI. 

MINISTERIAL CONSECRATION * 

It is necessary neither to prove from Scripture, nor 
to enforce by argument, the duty of Christian or min- 
isterial consecration. It seems to be universally con- 
ceded that this consecration is to be so entire as to 
comprehend the whole man in the completeness and 
symmetry of his being. Yet while no word in the 
Christian vocabulary is more readily admitted or 
more orthodoxly used, there is no thing in the Chris- 
tian life that is more sadly misapprehended and more 
grossly misapplied. Out of this misapprehension 
have grown doctrines and practices which, for ages, 
have been sapping the vigor and energies of the 
Church of Christ. This was the fountain-head of 
asceticism and all the extravagances and fanaticisms 
which have flowed from it. Under the conviction 
that prayer and meditation comprehended the whole 
duty of man, thousands, in the early ages of the 
Church, rushed to the deserts, dwelling in dens and 
caves, and living on herbs and roots. Zoroastrianism 
soon tinged the theology and piety of the Church 
with its peculiar views of the essential evil of matter, 
and hence, in order to promote godliness in the soul, 
ingenious methods of torture were invented for the 
body. 

* To the students at the opening of the Western Theological 
Seminary, September 15, 1868. 

157 



158 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

Here, then, we have the philosophy of the wonder- 
ful, grotesque, eccentric, sad, and thrilling history of 
asceticism. This, with all its concomitants and con- 
sequences, grew out of a partial and distorted view 
of Christian consecration. While the soul was con- 
secrated to God, the body was devoted to dishonor 
and abuse, and vile neglect and extremest mortifica- 
tion. In reading this history, the conviction is forced 
upon the mind that these ascetics were sincere and 
almost sublimely earnest, and we feel the kindlings 
of a certain kind of admiration for them. Simeon 
the Stylite, on. his pillar, was a hero ; a very con- 
tracted, distorted, lop-sided hero, it is true, but a hero 
nevertheless and notwithstanding. 

You, gentlemen, are in no probable danger of ascet- 
icism, but you are in danger of errors which spring 
from the same partial and defective one-sided view of 
Christian consecration from which sprang the ascet- 
icism of the early centuries. It is of the utmost im- 
portance that each of you should be impressed with 
the fact that you have a body, and that the Lord 
claims for his service your entire being in its com- 
pleteness, symmetry, harmony. It was monstrous to 
abuse the body as the Stylites and Flagellants did ; 
but to be indifferent to health and physical develop- 
ment is an error of the very same kind. The body is 
the only organism through which we can serve God ; 
and there is no antagonism between spiritual health 
and physical health, nor any sympathy between godli- 
ness and indigestion. No degree of spirituality, there- 
fore, can absolve a man from his duty to his own 
flesh. What your ministry is to be either respecting 
your own comfort in it or respecting its power upon 



MINISTERIAL CONSECRATION. 159 

others, will depend in a large degree upon the state 
of your stomach and nervous system. It is said that 
Henry Ward Beecher once sat to be examined by 
Fowler. The phrenologist laid his hands on the sub- 
ject's head, stepped back, and exclaimed : "What a 
splendid animal ! " It was no disparagement to Mr. 
Beecher to say that he is a splendid animal. The 
ministerial invalid corps — the large number laid utterly 
aside, and the still larger number who are crippled 
and straitened in their work on account of ill-health — 
furnish lamentable evidence that there is some sad, 
radical defect in our system of theological education 
and in the style of our clerical living. In this educa- 
tion and in this style of life there is little or no atten- 
tion given to the body. If it can stand the strain 
upon it without suffering from acute disease, it is left 
to the inevitable attack of the whole host of chronic 
complaints. There is no care or attempt to develop 
it along with the mind. 

Gentlemen, there is as much need of physical con- 
secration as there is of spiritual consecration. The 
soul and the body, God has joined together ; let no 
man put them asunder. Let no one flatter himself 
that he is doing God service by pushing his studies 
or his work at the expense of the brain. Let no one 
presume that he is guiltless in jeoparding or injur- 
ing his health by overeating, oversleeping, or by ir- 
regular or slovenly habits. In keeping yourselves 
unspotted from the world, forget not to keep the 
pores of the skin open ; in ruling the spirit, forget 
not to control the appetite. We relieve our con- 
sciences by attributing our ailments to the will of 
Providence, while these ailments result from the vio- 



l6o OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

lation of the simplest laws of hygiene. The seat and 
cause of nine-tenths, if not of ninety-nine hundredths, 
of our clerical sore throats, are to be sought for and 
found in the stomach. Speaking injures the throat 
no more than exercise injures the muscles of the arm. 
It is disuse, or misuse, through which the throat 
becomes diseased. If the vocal organs cannot endure 
exercise one day in seven, what must be the lot of the 
digestive organs, which are taxed day and night ! 
Rest is conceded to everything but the stomach ; and 
men treat it as though it were the wickedest thing on 
earth, and deserved no rest. What wonder if it rebels 
under such treatment, and in retaliation inflicts the 
horrors of hypochondria ! 

It is high time that we were emancipated from the 
idea that a clergyman is a sort of semi-spiritual being, 
and that he is subjected to a set of arbitrary laws 
from which other mortals are free. We have the 
clerical gait, the clerical tone, the clerical suit, and 
the clerical cravat. According to this code clerical, 
there are special, peculiar proprieties for the minister, 
which he dare not violate even for the sake of having 
his torpid lungs filled with fresh air, and his languid 
blood startled from its sluggish pace. He who allows 
himself to be cribbed and fettered by these unright- 
eously imposed laws will soon be as destitute of life 
and nature as a bandaged mummy. With his cares, 
anxieties, and overpowering responsibilities, the minis- 
ter above all men needs rousing, exhilarating exer- 
cises. He demands something more than a melan- 
choly walk, or a dull turn at the dainty game of 
croquet, which bears to the manly exercises about the 
relation that the Latin diminutive bears to the parent 



MINISTERIAL CONSECRATION. l6l 

noun. Clerical hands are not too holy to throw the 
quoit, or wield the bat, or hold the fishing rod, or level 
the rifle. Never mope and stew over the fire and 
drug yourselves with nostrums, while there are fish 
in the streams, game on the hills, an ax at the wood- 
pile, or a horse in the stable which can carry you on 
a gallop through the eddying snow and storm. Such 
recreations will not only give tone to your system, 
but tone also to your piety, and vim and variety to 
your sermons. Many of you I trust will find your 
fields of labor on the Western frontiers ; yet an indis- 
pensable condition of success in such a field is the 
physical capacity to endure hardness. The founda- 
tions of our Western Zion were laid by men who were 
not addicted to kid gloves or cologne water, tea and 
toast, mufflers or warming pans. Until mid-life 
Macurdy cracked the whip over a six-horse team. 
McMillan had the body of a giant and the voice of 
seven trumpets, while Herron more than once quelled 
fights on Penn Street by rushing from his study in 
his gown and taking the astonished combatants one 
in each hand, and shaking them at arm's length, and 
giving them a lecture at the same time. These men 
were not quite up to the Oxford standard in Greek 
accents and Latin prosody, but they were thoroughly 
versed in the profanities of muddy roads and swollen 
streams. 

It is to be feared that there is in the breast of 
many the lurking sentiment that it is not quite fitting 
that a student should have rugged health ; but that 
there is some necessary connection between intellectu- 
ality and ill health, that it is vulgar for a scholar to 
eat anything stronger than toast and tea. Remember 



162 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

the mind works through the brain, and the brain of 
the student needs material nourishment as much as 
the right arm of the blacksmith. We want a scholar- 
ship higher and wider and profounder than we have 
ever had, but along with it we want physical force to 
make it available. 

There is another phase of the subject which is no 
less pertinent and important. Your ministry is not 
only to be in the body, but by and through the body. 
The light and fervor of the inner man must be com- 
municated through the instrumentality of the outer 
man. You are to be preachers. Your vocation is to 
speak and teach. Vocal culture, then, is a necessary 
part of your education. When you have disciplined 
your mind and stored it with theological lore, your 
work is not yet done. You must learn to communicate 
that which you have. A communication must be 
established between your heart and the hearts of the 
people. Puritanism, in the violence of the reaction 
against ceremonialism, went to the opposite extreme, 
and fell into the error of supposing that the Word 
of God is honored by an unattractive and vicious 
delivery. The influence of this error has been felt 
even down to our own day. For his altar, the Lord 
requires at our hands the very best we have to offer. 
It is preposterous that a minister, under pretext of 
reverence for the Word of God, should convert the 
sound of the Gospel trumpet into a nasal twang, and 
pitch the great and precious promises to a dismal 
monotone, and in reading the Scriptures adopt a 
style of elocution which in inflection, intonation, or 
emphasis, makes not a shadow of distinction between 
the blessings of Gerizim and the curses of Ebal. Is. 



MINISTERIAL CONSECRATION. 163 

this the service which God requires at our hands? 
The Lord touched the mouth of Jeremiah, and sera- 
phim laid a live coal from the altar on the lips of 
Isaiah. The mouth is to be consecrated to this serv- 
ice, as well as the mind and the heart. The ground 
of the divine election of Aaron to the ministerial office 
was that he could speak well. 

Has that man, then, come up to the standard of 
ministerial consecration who has paid no attention to 
the development and culture of the vocal powers, and 
who, for want of this, has in his utterance as little 
flexibility as though his lips were made of pot-metal ? 
Actors give to this subject the intensest labor and 
study, but young preachers rush into the pulpit with 
about as much knowledge of speaking as was pos- 
sessed by Balaam's ass, and for their presumption 
deserve as sound cudgelling as that venerable beast 
received at the hand of its master. Your duty in 
this regard, gentlemen, will not be discharged without 
great labor. There is a sentence of Quintilian which 
I commend to your attention, and which might profit- 
ably be used by you as a motto : Multo labore y assi- 
duo studio, varia exercitatione, plurimis experimentis, 
altissima prudentia, prcesentissimo consilio, constat ars 
dicendi. (In much labor, assiduous study, varied 
exercise, many trials, greatest prudence, and readiest 
judgment, consists the art of speaking.) 

The true orator, the man who is instinct with the 
spirit of his subject, and who has all his powers well 
in hand, speaks with his whole person. From head 
to foot the limbs of the body and features of the face 
become the live exponents of the thoughts and feel- 
ings of the soul. Those of you who have heard 



164 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

Gough, know how he can convulse or subdue an 
audience without articulating a syllable. The coun- 
tenance, the limbs, the arms, the hand, the very finger- 
tips, are made to tell the whole story. By the iniqui- 
tous construction of pulpits, two-thirds of the 
preacher's person are hidden from view. It behooves 
him, therefore, to turn to the best possible account 
all the resources of the remaining third. Imagine 
Demosthenes making the Athenians shout, " Let us 
fight Philip," by speaking to them from within a hogs- 
head, or even from a modern pulpit ! Imagine 
Choate swaying, melting, moulding his twelve men, 
from a box pinned up to the wall in the neighbor- 
hood of the ceiling ! By his surroundings the 
preacher is put at a great disadvantage ; but instead 
of tamely submitting to this disadvantage, he should 
do all in his power to overcome it. The Gospel is not 
preached by merely forming words mechanically and 
lazily, with no other sign of life or emotion, and with 
a face as blank as a dead wall and as expressionless as 
a oiece of sole leather. It is no wonder that such 
preaching falls short of the hearts of the people. 
Far be it from me to advocate a theatrical style, or 
anything, indeed, that even tends to degrade the ser- 
mon to the level of a mere performance for display 
and elocutionary effect ; but I do insist that the man 
who has consecrated himself to the ministry should 
bring to that work every force and element of his 
nature which can be made available. 

The two chief defects of education are super- 
ficiality and narrowness. The riches and resources 
of the intellect do not lie on the surface. They are 
not reached by skimming ; they are brought out only 



MINISTERIAL CONSECRATION. 165 

by thorough cultivation. The mind must be sub- 
soiled. As men who have consecrated yourselves to 
a holy work, it is your solemn duty to educe and dis- 
cipline every power of the intellect. To do this is as 
sacred a duty as it is to pray or to preach. It is 
mockery for a man, under pretense of spirituality, to 
neglect studies and exercises which conduce to the 
growth and discipline of the mind. It is making 
spirituality a cloak for laziness, which would other- 
wise appear in its stark nakedness and ugliness. 
Piety must have knowledge to sustain it and thought 
to nourish it. Without these it will evaporate in 
sighs ; and the man who in the seminary is too holy 
to study, will, in his ministry, have nothing better to 
offer than vapid commonplaces. The Levitical offer- 
ing had to be without blemish. Nothing that was 
maimed, or scurvy, or scabbed, or having on it so 
much as a wen, could come upon the Lord's altar. 
Take care, gentlemen, that you, through indolence and 
negligence, do not bring to God's altar minds dwarfed, 
and maimed, and scurvy through inaction. 

Not only is education superficial, but in the culti- 
vation of the intellect large tracts of it are left 
untouched. It is astonishing how small a fraction of 
their powers even educated men call into active serv- 
ice, and in case of the ministry this is not only 
astonishing, but lamentable and blameworthy. The 
extreme reaction of Puritanism, to which I have before 
referred, has made itself felt at this point of the 
Church's life also, by discountenancing all the amen- 
ities of style, and acting upon the theory that only a 
part of the powers of the mind, and they of the baldest 
and driest, are to be brought to the service of the 



166 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

sanctuary. Shall the understanding be consecrated to 
God, while the imagination, with its wondrous powers 
and possibilities of good, is subjected to a proscrip- 
tion as relentless as that enforced by the Stylite 
against his body ? Rather let the understanding, 
imagination, and sensibilities all be cultivated to the 
highest pitch, and let the whole soul, thus symmet- 
rically developed and all aglow with its harmonious 
action, be laid at the feet of Jesus. What right has 
any of you to keep back from the service of your 
Master any faculty with which he has endowed you ? 
Let your education, then, be not only thorough, but 
let it comprehend your manhood in its integrity and 
completeness. Let all your powers be kept in con- 
stant training, ready for efficient service at a moment's 
warning. The Lord has need of them all. 

After the mind has been properly educated and 
disciplined, it must be kept in condition, and con- 
stantly improved by a liberal course of study and 
reading and observation. 

All study is useful. Any mental exercise which 
gives tone and snap and litheness to the mind, is 
beneficial, and is to be pursued as bearing directly 
or indirectly upon the work of the ministry. The 
volume of the Word is to be illustrated by the volume 
of nature. Thus taught the great Teacher. Let 
science, philosophy, and art bring their treasures to 
adorn the Cross. Let not the pulpit be converted 
into a lyceum, with Christ dimly in the background ; 
yet let the whole domain of thought be laid under 
tribute for the Gospel's sake. Let the heart be under 
the baptism of the Spirit, and all things will be seen 
in the light of the Cross, and science and art will 



J 



MINISTERIAL CONSECRATION. 167 

proffer their willing ministries to the service of the 
truth as it is in Jesus. Put Christ in the triumphal 
car, and let all science and knowledge take their 
place in his train to aid in swelling his triumph ; and 
do not, as the manner of some is, lead Jesus bound 
behind some inflated theory or favorite hobby. With 
your every faculty awake and active, gather all the 
resources within your reach, and put them all into 
the service of the truth. Take the spoils of Egypt 
for the tabernacle. Strive to make your ministry rich 
in thought and observation and the garnered wisdom 
of the ages. The preacher should be wise, that he may 
teach the people knowledge. The dignity and worth 
of your ministry will not depend upon the place where, 
or the circumstances in which, it is exercised ; but upon 
the spirit that shall pervade it, and upon the labor, 
thought, learning, and experience you shall put into it. 

Brethren, have I made myself understood ? What 
I wish to say is this : as consecrated men you have no 
right to keep out of your work any part of your 
nature, or to subtract any particle of that which goes 
to make up human force ; that you are to carry into 
the cause your whole spirit and soul and body. If 
this standard be reached, you will never complain of 
the hardships of your calling. 

It is the world's standing reproach that the pulpit 
is dry and uninteresting, and dwells apart from the 
ordinary thought and sympathy of humanity. No 
longer ago than last week, William Lloyd Garrison 
began an article in the Independent, with these sen- 
tences : " The pulpit is proverbial for its dulness. 
Ordinary sermonizing powerfully tends to somnolency, 
closing the eyes like an opiate." Instead of efferves- 



168 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

cing with righteous indignation at such reproaches, 
we would do well to profit by whatever of truth they 
may contain. If the pulpit is dull, it is because the 
occupants of it do not put into it the whole soul and 
all its powers. 

The high themes of the Gospel can be so presented 
that the popular heart will thrill at the utterance of 
them. There is, it may as well be confessed, a grow- 
ing prejudice against doctrinal preaching. The cry 
is for practical sermons. But how divorce practice 
from doctrine? How enforce precepts which pertain 
to godly living apart from the doctrines which under- 
lie the Christian life ? The ground of this prejudice 
is not in the doctrines, but in the manner of present- 
ing them. In the hands of Paul they were not dead 
abstractions, but quick and powerful. And put them, 
now, in the hands of a living, earnest man, a man who 
has convictions, and they are still quick and power- 
ful — it may be Newman in St. Mary's ; or Spurgeon 
in his Tabernacle ; or Lacordaire in Notre Dame. It 
is not a question between written or unwritten ser- 
mons — between sermons read or sermons spoken — 
between sermons extempore or memoriter — sermons 
doctrinal or practical. It is not the form, but the 
spirit, that is vital and essential. An unwritten ser- 
mon may be as dry as mummied dust, while a manu- 
script may be as fresh and fragrant as the morning. 
The Word of God is not bound, in the sense that it 
can be preached in only one way. The preacher 
should be master of all styles, ready to adapt his 
address to all audiences and to ever varying circum- 
stances. He should be able to write as elegantly as 
Melville, and be, at the same time, as offhand as 



MINISTERIAL CONSECRATION. 169 

Spurgeon. In preaching he should be equally at 
home in a cathedral or a coal-bank. He should be 
able to preach with manuscript or without, with prep- 
aration or without ; by following a premeditated 
train, or by adopting a new one, on the spur of the 
moment, which will be adapted to the immediate oc- 
casion; he should be so full of the digested matter of 
the Gospel, as to make it a matter of indifference with 
him whether he preach twice or twenty times a week ; 
he should be so apt in pat and telling illustrations, 
that he can carry his message right home to the 
hearts of the people who are at the moment looking 
up into his face for the bread of life. 

This is not an ideal standard, impossible of realiza- 
tion. It is within the scope of practicability ; and the 
Church and the world want and wait for such men ; 
but those dainty, kid-gloved, pomatumed exquisites — 
who put the " balm of a thousand flowers " in their 
sermons as well as upon their handkerchiefs ; who 
have a keen eye for the highest temporal good ; who 
rate churches according to their material resources ; 
and whose first question is, " What's the salary?" — 
are wanted nowhere, unless it should be in a millinery 
shop to sell ribbons. 

Brethren, a glorious work lies before you. Thank 
God that he has called you to it, and that he is about 
to put you into it. " Magnify your office." " Covet 
the best gifts." Prefer to be a prince among 
preachers to being the first crowned head of Europe. 
Be men — earnest, strong, brave men — healthy in 
body, mind, and heart — men of God — God's men 
true and loyal : 

Sworn liegemen of the cross and thorny crown. 



VII. 

TWENTY-FIFTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 

PASTORATE OF THE REV. DR. 

BROWNSON. 



VII. 

TWENTY-FIFTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 

PASTORATE OF THE REV. DR. 

BROWNSON.* 

Twenty-five years of human life in any station 
and in any circumstances is a matter of momentous 
interest and importance. Life ! Human life ! Of 
what hopes, regrets, defeats, successes, loves, griefs, 
and sympathies the wondrous fabric is woven ! A 
quarter-century of such life cannot be void of inter- 
est, though it be spent in a dungeon or in an Esqui- 
maux's hut or in a felon's cell. By what factors, 
then, will you compute the results of a quarter-century 
of faithful ministerial labor? Who will write the 
history of the work done in twenty-five years by an 
accredited ambassador of Christ, who pleads with 
men, " in Christ's stead," to be reconciled to God ? 
Such work humbly and faithfully done anywhere must 
tell mightily on human destinies, and must project its 
influences forward until they take hold on eternal 
issues. The real results of such work are not mani- 
fest. The breaking up of the fallow ground and the 
sowing of the seed only are done here. The harvest- 
ing is to be done hereafter. Now we look abroad 
over fields newly sown, or, at most, with the tender 

*In the First Presbyterian Church of Washington, Pa., De- 
cember, 1873. 

173 



174 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

shoots struggling up through the clods. But oh ! 
what an apocalypse for men and angels the harvest- 
home will be when all the sheaves shall be gathered 
with shoutings and rejoicings ! 

In any computations concerning such work, we are 
dealing with elements which are invisible and intan- 
gible and imponderable, but which are superlatively 
potent and far-reaching in their power. The minister 
of God wields spiritual weapons. He touches springs 
which in their action and reaction are mightier than 
the sweep of the universe. He strikes keys which 
make heaven resonant with joy. Twenty-five years 
of such work ! Who will write it up ? It cannot be 
put into figures or statistical tables. It cannot be 
written in annals, expressed in eloquence, or sung in 
poetry. Written history is but the anatomy of real 
history, and bears to it the same relation which a 
wired skeleton bears to a living man. When God's 
books shall be opened, causes as well as effects will 
be seen, and then " they that be wise (teachers) shall 
shine as the brightness of the firmament, and they 
that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever 
and ever." Could we see the hidden springs and the 
occult forces which lie beneath the surface of things, 
we might be able to write a history in some degree 
worthy of such a work. 

The history of this ministry is greatly enhanced in 
interest, and the power of it is greatly intensified by 
the fact that it has been exercised for all these years 
in the same place. It is a rare privilege to be per- 
mitted by Providence to preach the Gospel for twenty- 
five years to one church, and especially when that 
church is united, harmonious, fraternal, and cordial. 



REV. DR. BROWNSON. I 75 

In these fretful, feverish times of ours, long pastorates 
are alike honorable to both pastor and people. The 
fact itself deserves distinct recognition and emphatic 
commendation. But it also carries in it a certifi- 
cate concerning the quality of ministerial work done 
here. No theological wish-wash, no weak rinsing 
of the wine-cask, no gilded, decorated cobs and 
husks, no dishing up and setting forth of highly 
seasoned hodge-podge of the current news or of 
sensational themes would have fed and nourished and 
satisfied such a people as this for these twenty-five 
years. Their cultivated, just, discriminating taste 
would long ago have turned away with loathing and 
disgust from all vulgar clap-trap ; from all theatrical 
display or rhetorical tricks ; from all intellectual gym- 
nastics or pyrotechnics ; from all clownish oddities 
and eccentricities and idiosyncrasies. 

And just here we find a pertinent and suggestive 
lesson for both churches and preachers. The lesson 
is this : The pastors who make for themselves a large 
and warm and firm place in the hearts of their people 
are those who preach simply and plainly the pure 
Gospel. It is a lesson which the public greatly 
needs to learn. The question that is now too often 
asked by churches seeking a pastor is not " Does he 
preach the gospel," but " Will he draw ? " The iden- 
tical question which is asked concerning a third-rate 
actor in a Bowery theatre ! Will he by startling utter- 
ances, made in disregard or in utter defiance of God's 
Word, or by fantastic tricks of voice or manner, attract 
a throng of gaping curiosity-seekers and sensation- 
mongers ? An affirmative answer to such questions 
is generally regarded as an unqualified recommenda- 



176 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

tion. If there should be, perchance, a flaw in his 
moral character, so much the better. It will give 
spice and piquancy to the sensation of those who 
go to the house of God as the Athenians went to the 
market place, to " hear something new/' 

By such a policy churches may be forced into an 
artificial growth, but it is as different from the healthy, 
steady growth which comes from the preaching of the 
simple old Gospel as the growth of Jonah's gourd 
was different from that of the oak of Bashan, or as 
the course of a planet is different from the whirr and 
flare and explosion and — extinction of a sky-rocket. 

The popular opinion is that the influence of a 
minister, after a certain length of time, wears out in a 
church and community. This is a very great and a 
very grave mistake. The influence and the power of 
a pastor, who is earnest in his studies and faithful 
in his duties, not only do not wear out or diminish, 
but, on the contrary, increase steadily year after 
year, as the on-flowing river deepens and broadens 
and gains momentum. Those who wear out or run 
out or run dry are like the Nile in its lower course, 
which has no tributaries, no affluents, and of neces- 
sity diminishes instead of increasing as it advances — 
its waters being drunk up by the sand, and there 
being nothing to supply the waste. Each added year 
should make a pastorate more and more rich in all 
elements of usefulness and power. The possibility 
and practicability of this have been demonstrated here. 

What an ineffable privilege it is to be permitted to 
stand in one place for a quarter of a century and preach 
the Gospel to one people, with the bonds of mutual 
confidence and esteem growing firmer and the ties of 



REV. DR. BROWNSON. 177 

sympathy and affection growing stronger all the while ; 
to see children grow up under the moulding influence 
of an unbroken pastorate, the same hand which 
sealed them in infancy as members of the visible 
Church leading them in the paths of righteousness and 
distributing to them the elements of the Lord's Sup- 
per ; and the same lips which invoked the name of 
the Trinity over them in baptism pronouncing upon 
them nuptial benedictions ; to watch middle life soften 
into age, old age mellow and ripen for glory, and 
childhood and youth take the place of those who are 
passing away ; to mingle with and to share the joys 
and sorrows and sympathies of the same people, to 
bear comfort to the same families for so many years 
and through so many vicissitudes, and to be the 
means of leading to Christ souls of the same house- 
hold, even to the third generation ! 

Not only is the length of this pastorate a matter of 
congratulation, but the place, the time, and circum- 
stances of it could scarcely be more felicitous. From 
what other spot could the influence of a pastor radiate 
farther or along more important lines ? With a col- 
lege on the one hand and a female seminary on the 
other, a class of hearers of both sexes have been 
brought to these pews who are more interesting and 
hopeful than any others who come within the compass 
of a preacher's voice or within the sphere of a pastor's 
influence. If you would see the fruits of this ministry, 
you must look far beyond the limits of this congrega- 
tion and of this commonwealth. You must go far 
beyond the seas, where the cross of Christ is being 
set up in the face of the grim and mighty systems and 
superstitions of the Orient ; you must search far and 



178 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

wide in hundreds of families over which is cast the 
halo of a saintly woman's influence and example ; you 
must go into the pulpit, on the bench, into legislative 
halls, into seminaries, colleges, academies, and 
schools and mission stations throughout all this land. 
The number of those who have been brought to 
Christ in this church during these twenty-five years, 
and who have entered the ministry, is sufficient to 
form a good-sized presbytery, or even a small synod. 
Such a record as this will surprise no one who knows 
anything of Dr. Brownson's lively interest in students ; 
his genuine, sturdy sympathy with them in their studies 
and struggles, and how his labors and his prayers 
have been bent to their conversion. In him the stu- 
dent always finds a true friend and a wise counsellor, 
who can enter into his feelings and sympathies as 
though he himself had been at college but yesterday. 
He has read and criticised many crude essays and 
orations ; and, while his criticisms have been just, and 
sometimes severe, they were always made in such a 
spirit as not to discourage, but to stimulate to more 
earnest effort. If the spiritual masonry by which 
the Church is edified could be revealed to the bodily 
eye, traces of his hand and the impress of his spirit 
would be found in hundreds of pulpits throughout the 
land. Thus the results of his labors have not been 
confined to this congregation, but are like the river of 
Egypt, which overflows its banks, filling canals and 
lakes, and carrying fertility and verdure far and near, 
" making the wilderness and solitary places glad, and 
the desert to rejoice and blossom as the rose, giving 
to it the glory of Lebanon, the excellency of Carmel 
and Sharon." 



REV. DR. BROWNSON. 1 79 

A chief and a crowning glory of this pastorate is 
that it has been a pastorate of revivals. It was inau- 
gurated in revival. An outpouring of the Holy Spirit 
solemnized and consecrated its beginning, and fur- 
nished a promise and a pledge that the Lord would 
continue to be with pastor and people. With some 
of us those initial weeks are the most memorable of 
all the weeks of these twenty-five years. To some of 
us the " old church " is invested with a glory which 
can belong to no other building — a glory such as, in 
the eyes of the Israelites, belonged to the Tabernacle, 
over which rested the fiery-cloudy pillar. That was 
the time and that was the place of " the love of our 
espousals." Then were displayed the presence and 
the power of God as really as when, at the dedication 
of the temple, " fire came down from heaven and con- 
sumed the burnt offerings and the sacrifices : and the 
glory of the Lord filled the house/' The strange but 
mighty influence stole over the town and the college. 
There was an unwonted solemnity and awe in the 
rooms of the students, along the halls, and in the 
campus. When it was whispered from one to another 
that such and such a one had remained at inquiry 
meeting, an electric thrill made the circuit of the 
whole company of students. None could resist the 
power of the influence. # The most giddily thought- 
less and the most desperately reckless were subdued 
and awed. They were in the presence of a mysteri- 
ous power about which they could no more be skepti- 
cal than the Israelite could be skeptical at Sinai when 
he saw the " mountain altogether on a smoke " and 
wrapped in a " thick cloud," and when he heard the 
thunderings and "the voice of the trumpet exceeding 



180 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

loud." Nothing could divert the mind or wrest the 
thoughts away from the great subject. A little inci- 
dent may serve to illustrate this. One night a student 
who lived a short distance in the country, having to 
wait for a brother who remained as an inquirer, asked 
a classmate to stay and keep him company. The two 
got in a cellar door-way at the end of the church to 
shelter themselves from the cold winds, and while 
keeping up a vigorous stamping of feet to stimulate 
the circulation, they talked of studies and literary 
societies, of contest, of fun and frolic, and projected 
amusements — earnestly striving to keep up their spirits 
and to act as though there was nothing unusual going 
on. But it was of no use. All attempts broke down. 
Finally one said : " I wish I was in there with my 
brother Tom to-night. It is where I ought to be 
instead of shivering here." The other said nothing, 
but thought much and felt more. The boys who 
stood stamping and shivering in the door-way that 
night are both in the ministry. 

It is no wonder that a pastorate thus inaugurated 
by such an unction from on high should be prolonged 
and blessed. At the very outset the prayer of God's 
people was answered : " Arise, O Lord God, into 
thy resting place, thou and the ark of thy strength." 
And as it began in revival, so it has continued to be a 
pastorate of revivals. The pillar of cloud and of fire 
has been over this tabernacle. Happy, thrice happy, 
the pastor who has thus the manifest seal of the Holy 
Ghost upon his ministry ! May the years that remain 
of this pastorate be a continuous Pentecost ! 

Not by any means the least significant topic sug- 
gested by this occasion is the character of the times 



REV. DR. BROWNSON. l8l 

in which this ministry of a quarter of a century has 
been exercised. Within that time thrones have been 
set up and thrown down ; science has put a girdle 
round the world in less time even than the daring 
fancy of Shakespeare demanded ; God's step has been 
among the nations, until all barriers are removed and 
every land is open to the heralds of the Gospel. In 
the fierce strifes and conflicts of the times, and in the 
rapid revolutions of opinions, venerable parties and 
theories and policies and philosophies have crumbled 
as a potter's vessel that has been smitten by a sledge- 
hammer. " The foolish things of this world " — in 
both Church and state — have " confounded the wise," 
and the "weak things of the world have confounded 
the things which were mighty, and the base things of 
the world, and things which were despised, yea, and 
things which were not, have brought to nought things 
that were." Frequently during these years we have 
read in the daily newspapers items concerning single 
events which contained in them more that was of 
supreme interest to humanity, and which portended 
more of weal or woe for the future, than all of the 
events which have been embalmed in the histories of 
Herodotus and Thucydides. So rapid and radical 
have been the changes, so swift and thorough have 
been the revolutions, that we can scarcely be said to 
be living in the same world in which we lived twenty- 
five years ago. And when facts and issues shall 
appear in their true light and at their proper value, it 
will be found that the man who, amidst these tumult- 
uous years, ever watchful of the great interests com- 
mitted to him, with an eye to " discern the signs of 
the times," brave enough to speak the right word at 



182 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

the right time, unswayed by popular tempests — scevis 
tranquillus in undis — with a true heart and a firm 
hand has stood here, at his post, an accepted coun- 
sellor, teacher, and leader, it will be found that this 
man has wielded a sceptre more potent for good than 
has any king in Europe. 

How infinitely grander is such a record than that 
of an Alexander, or a Caesar, or a Napoleon, or a 
Wellington ! 

The men to whom the gratitude and honors of the 
Church are due are those who patiently cultivate the 
field into which the Lord has put them. The ministry 
of some men is as unsettled as a gypsy's camp. They 
are perpetually seeking change, and as intensely covet 
the fields of their neighbors as Ahab coveted the vine- 
yard of Naboth ; and like him, in chagrin and dis- 
appointment, they " lie down upon their bed and turn 
away their face and eat no bread," instead of " doing 
with their might whatsoever their hands find to do." 
Thus energy is frittered away, enthusiasm evaporates, 
and life is wasted. The men who conquer are those 
who " fight it out on the same line." 

The walls of the spiritual building which "groweth 
unto a holy temple in the Lord " go not up by sound 
and fury. Quiet, steady forces are, in all spheres, 
the mightiest and the most efficient. During the con- 
struction of a great bridge in Holland one of the 
principal traverses, nearly five hundred feet in length, 
was placed about one inch too far on the piles. No 
enginery could move it. In the morning the end that 
was too far advanced was securely bolted down. 
Then by expansion, through the heat of the sun, the 
end that was left free silently, imperceptibly crept 



REV. DR. BROWNSON. 183 

along the piles. In the evening the latter end was 
fastened, and the contraction, through cold, caused a 
like movement of the opposite extremity. Twice 
repeated, the operation brought the traverse into posi- 
tion. The noiseless warmth of the sun and the cool 
atmosphere of the night accomplished that which deaf- 
ening machinery could not accomplish. Thus the 
quiet, steady, and often unappreciated labors of 
a long pastorate lift up and carry forward great 
works and interests of immeasurable preciousness, 
while the world sees and hears nothing. Only the 
opening of the Lamb's Book of Life will reveal the 
work that has been done here in all the importance, 
results, and issues of it. 



VIII. 
"HIGHER LIFE"— A CHAPEL TALK. 



-HIGHER LIFE"— A CHAPEL TALK.* 

To all that the advocates of this so-called " higher 
life " say about the fulness and sufficiency of Christ 
we most cordially agree. In this there is surely 
nothing new. The fact is, all that is good in this 
theory is as old as the Gospel itself, while all that is 
novel is erroneous. What is true in it you can hear 
on any Sabbath from any evangelical pulpit in the 
land. The fulness and sufficiency of Christ we be- 
lieve, preach, and rejoice in. We also believe in a 
higher spiritual life. But the advocates of this theory 
confound justification and sanctification, in that they 
make them both acts; whereas sanctification is a work 
— a progressive, a life-long work. Now in opposition 
to this old, sound, and scriptural doctrine we have the 
theory set forth that by going through a certain for- 
mality of making and signing a covenant, or by some 
other magical art or operation, there is brought about 
this sudden transition into a state of holiness or per- 
fection ; for if you get down to strict definition, the 
doctrine is found to be identical with the old doctrine 
of perfectionism. There is nothing in the act of sit- 
ting down and writing out a covenant to make a man 
holy. The men who trust to such things are deceiv- 
ing themselves. 

* November, 1878. A stenographic report. 
187 



l88 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

A few weeks ago a man came into my study, and 
he had not been there five minutes until he volunteered 
the statement in voluble and vainglorious terms that 
he had not committed a sin for twenty-six years — 
and yet he was a book agent. He asserted with great 
emphasis that he was perfectly certain that he had 
not, in thought, word, or deed, done wrong for 
more than a quarter of a century. Yet that man had 
not grace enough to keep his face clean. He was sin- 
fully dirty. It is sheer absolute presumption for a 
man to say that he is certain that he has not com- 
mitted sin. What does such a man know of the 
human soul with its faculties, with its thoughts 
and desires darting more rapidly than electricity, 
with its passions and impulses in all their com- 
plex and occult workings ! To pronounce dog- 
matically on such a subject is presumption at least, 
if not blasphemy. Our highest conception of the 
holiness, the spirituality, the scope, and comprehen- 
siveness of the divine law falls infinitely below the 
truth. And beyond the line where we suppose that 
responsibility ceases there is still a world of ac- 
countability. 

Just here lies the secret of this error. It arises 
from a lack of a true and adequate conception of 
what sin is. The theory does not exalt holiness, but 
it drags down the divine law. Each man makes a 
divine law to suit himself. The law is cut to fit the 
capacities and tastes of different persons. The book 
agent before referred to admitted that he had bad 
dreams ; in the heat of the discussion he became 
white with rage, and in order to escape dilemmas in 
his argument he lied three distinct times ; yet went 



" HIGHER LIFE. 189 

away declaring solemnly that he had not sinned for 
twenty-six years, and that during that time he had not 
once prayed for forgiveness. Not long since I asked 
a Presbyterian minister — an advocate of this theory — 
what he would say to a man who made such assertions 
as the foregoing. To my utter surprise he did not 
object to them, but said that it was necessary to define 
what was meant by " sin." There it is in a nut-shell. 
Why define, or refine, or split hairs ? We are not 
talking about words, or fancies, or definitions, but 
about things. Under these definitions and distinctions 
are hidden things which they call infirmities — not sins, 
but "infirmities." These infirmities need to be repented 
of, they need the washing of the blood of Jesus, but 
it will not do to call them sins. Why not call them by 
their right name, unless it be to foster an abominable 
vanity ! I do not believe that there is any true 
Christianity in such a course. I do not believe that 
there is any true Christian experience in it. By the 
Spirit of God we are led to see the glorious suffi- 
ciency of Christ. In the same way we are led to dis- 
cover the pollution of our human nature, and these 
discoveries do not contract our views of the sweep of 
the divine law, but on the other hand greatly heighten 
and amplify these views. This is Christian experi- 
ence as described by the Apostle Paul, and the testi- 
mony in regard to it has been uniform throughout all 
ages of the Church. The real controversy between 
us is not so much about holiness as it is about sin. If 
these men do not sin, their natures must be perfectly 
holy, for " who can bring a clean thing out of an 
unclean ? " From an impure fountain, impure streams 
will flow. 



190 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

The tendency of this doctrine is to antinomianism. 
Suppose one man covers up some sin under the name 
and the guise of an infirmity. Another man covers 
up some other sin under the same name and guise. 
Thus every man sets up his own standard, and the 
motive is not to honor and exalt the infinite law of 
God, but to preserve the assumed reputation of living 
without sin. Every iniquity may be committed under 
such a system. 

Another trick is to evade the charge of sinning by 
the plea of unconsciousness. They do not sin con- 
sciously. The question is whether we sin at all or 
not. The assumption here is that we are not respon- 
sible for unconscious sins. But we are responsible 
for the formation of evil habits, and through these 
evil habits we sin unconsciously. The profane swearer 
takes the name of God in vain unconsciously. " If 
we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and 
the truth is not in us." 

I have known an advocate of this doctrine to per- 
mit a promising missionary enterprise to languish 
under his pastorate for lack of consecrated work. I 
do not want such a " higher life " for any of you. If 
this is a " higher life," then I want a lower. I want a 
life low enough to get down on a level with the thresh- 
olds of the poor, that will expend itself in laboring 
for the conversion of sinners. I do not say that a 
lazy man cannot be saved, but I do say that a man 
who is too lazy to discharge his solemn and manifest 
duty has no right to lay claim to perfect sanctifica- 
tion. I have no faith in any Christian experience 
which detracts from the spirituality, depth, breadth, 
length, height, scope, reach, and comprehensiveness 



" HIGHER LIFE. 191 

of the divine law. I believe in that Christian experi- 
ence which, in proportion as it is developed, sees 
more and more the infinite purity and holiness of the 
law, and which, just in this proportion, discovers de- 
filement, corruption, and utter unworthiness in our- 
selves, and which thus sinks the soul in the dust at 
the foot of the cross to give all honor and glory to 
the Lord Jesus Christ. 



IX. 

ADDRESS TO THE GRADUATING CLASS 

OF 1883. 



IX. 

ADDRESS TO THE GRADUATING CLASS 

OF 1883. 

Young Gentlemen : With many pleasant mem- 
ories of the past, with a profound feeling of sadness 
at the present parting, and with most earnest prayers 
for your future success and welfare, we now sunder the 
tie which has united us so closely as professors and 
students. Three happy years have glided quickly 
past as day after day we pursued together our inves- 
tigations in the boundless fields of theological inquiry. 
These investigations, in their place and measure, were 
intended to fit you for your high calling ; and if they 
have at all served their purpose, they have formed 
within you habits of thoughtful study, they have cre- 
ated within you a quenchless thirst for knowledge. 
The truly educated mind will find fields for endless 
research everywhere. If there be no opportunity 
for quiet study in a cosey library, then the broad 
prairie, the mountain path, or the narrow, busy street 
will become a library teeming with lessons and 
suggestions. These diplomas are not to be con- 
sidered as certificates of discharge from the duty of 
study, but, on the contrary, they should be interpreted 
as your written orders for the campaign, which mean* 
your whole life. All these past years of preparation 
were intended to fit you for systematic and effective 

195 



I96 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

intellectual work, and if you are to do that work 
efficiently, you must be earnest students. You can- 
not acquit your consciences in this regard by con- 
cluding that your situation is so unfavorable, that' 
circumstances are so unpropitious, that you cannot 
study. You must study. Let the situation be favor- 
able or unfavorable, let circumstances be propitious or 
unpropitious, you must study. Circumstances must 
be made to bend to your necessities in this respect. 
Obstacles must be converted into opportunities. 
Without intellectual and spiritual activity and growth 
you will become drivellers and drones, and will spend 
your lives in threshing old straw. There is no incom- 
patibility between the most profound learning on 
the one hand, and the most direct contact with the 
popular mind and heart on the other. Learning that 
educates men away from the people is a false learning. 
It is shallow, spurious, and undeserving of the name. 
The last, the highest, and the ripest result of 
scholarship is the faculty of simplifying that which is 
abstruse, of expressing profound and difficult things 
in the plain language of every-day life. Read Hebrew 
and Greek — indeed I charge you to read and study 
these languages every day, and Latin too. Read if you 
choose, also, Egyptian hieroglyphics and Assyrian 
cuneiform inscriptions, but when you preach do not 
display the processes by which you reach results ; do 
not parade your learning, but speak to the people in 
good, honest Anglo-Saxon — preach the Gospel straight 
from the heart ; let it leap from the tip of a ready 
tongue. The great steam hammer of Nasmyth, which 
crushed rocks and ores as if they were pipestems, 
could nevertheless be worked with such delicacy that 



GRADUATING CLASS OF 1883. 197 

it would break an egg-shell in a wine-cup without 
injuring the glass. Strength and delicacy, force com- 
bined with fineness — this, young gentlemen, is the 
ideal which you should set before you. Be as strong 
as lions, as swift as eagles, and as gentle as doves. 

Vast fields open before you at home and abroad. 
By the blessing of God you may mould civilizations, 
and lay the foundations of empires. In whose mouth 
the Lord puts his word, him " He sets over the nations, 
and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, 
and to destroy, and to throw down, to build and to 
plant. He makes him a defenced city, and an iron 
pillar, and brazen walls against kings and against 
princes." " Be strong and of a good courage." He 
who goes to his work timidly invites defeat ; indeed 
he is half defeated already. You have the truth of 
God to preach, you have the commission of the 
Master under which to work ; and the promise is that 
" He will be with you alway, even unto the end of 
the world." 



I. 

THE SPIRIT OF MISSIONS. 



I. 

THE SPIRIT OF MISSIONS.* 

n And let the whole earth be Jilted with his glory" — Psalm 
lxxii. ig. 

These words breathe the innermost spirit of the 
Gospel. In whatever form this spirit expresses itself, 
whether in prophecy, in type, in parable, or in prayer, 
its aspirations and its utterances embrace the whole 
world. The spirit of the Gospel is the spirit of mis- 
sions. Without this, Christianity is a spurious or a 
dead Christianity ; without this, a Church is not a 
true Church. The missionary element of the Gospel, 
therefore, is not an accident or an adjunct, but 
belongs to the very essence and soul of it. 

The spirit of missions, therefore, is a badge of the 
true Church and a pledge of her success and triumph. 

From out the ruins of the Fall, prophecy uplifts her 
majestic form ; with a glance she scans the vista of 
the coming ages and proclaims ultimate and complete 
victory through an incarnate Redeemer. Thus was 
struck the keynote of prophecy ; and the resounding 
prophetic harmonies to which the Church has marched 
through the ages have never fallen below this pitch. 

Abel by his martyr-blood, Enoch by his walk with 

^Moderator's sermon at the opening session of the 87th General 
Assembly, in the First Presbyterian Church, Cleveland, O., 
May 20, 1S75. 

201 



202 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

God and his translation to heaven, Noah by his min- 
istry of righteousness — these bore testimony to a 
faith which was not restricted by any lines of race or of 
latitude. The blessing of Japhet was that he was to 
be " enlarged " and was to dwell in the tents of Shem. 
Ungodliness, rallying its forces at Babel, attempted to 
set up a universal empire in the interest of atheistic 
humanitarianism ; but He that " sitteth in the heavens 
laughed " at the impious attempt to wrest the crown 
of universal dominion from Him to whom only it 
rightfully belongs, and scattered the races " abroad 
from thence upon the face of all the earth," to be 
gathered again only at the cross of Christ. Babel 
stands as a monument to all generations of the folly 
of attempting to establish a universal kingdom save 
under the sceptre of the Son of God. In its deepest 
significance, the history of Babel is a chapter on 
missions. 

The separatism of the Abrahamic covenant and of 
the Mosaic economy did not contravene this oecu- 
menical spirit of the Gospel, but was in the fullest 
accord and sympathy with it. The lines contracted 
for a time in order that with a wider and a more 
assured grasp they might embrace the world. All 
that was national and restricted in these dispensations 
was only temporary, and had for its purpose the edu- 
cation of a people through- whom the knowledge of 
the true religion was to be diffused throughout the 
earth. The fence was not to shut the world out, but 
to keep the Church in. The Abrahamic promise rose 
from the individual to the nation, and from the chosen 
nation to " all the families of the earth." The dying 
Jacob, with prophetic vision, looking past the waving 



THE SPIRIT OF MISSIONS. 203 

sceptre of Judah, saw the gathering of the people to 
Shiloh. When read aright, the Abrahamic covenant 
is only another form of the Apostolic commission. 

The distinctive doctrine of the Patriarchal religion 
was the unity of God, and this doctrine carried in 
itself the ground and the pledge of a reunion of 
humanity. By her belief in this doctrine the Church, 
amidst the brick-kilns of Egypt, proclaimed the uni- 
versality of her mission. On her march from bondage 
she carried in the same doctrine the charter of her 
freedom and her title-deed to the Promised Land. 
Even in the desert, by her testimony to the truth, she 
touched by her influence distant nations, as the fiery 
pillar flung its light far into the surrounding dark- 
ness. A Church which has in its creed the unity, 
omnipresence, and supremacy of God can accept no 
field which contains less than the whole race. So that 
the creed of the Patriarchal and the Mosaic Church 
made it, of necessity, a missionary Church. 

The land of promise was at the centre of ancient 
civilizations — " by the cross-roads where the highways 
of all nations met." The influence of the covenant 
people, therefore, radiated in all directions. Their 
altar-fires were signal-lights of hope to a perishing 
world. Their jubilee trumpets woke seas and moun- 
tains and deserts to the echoes of salvation. The 
converging tribes, on their march to keep festival at 
Jerusalem, startled nations and kingdoms by the 
swelling choruses of their hallelujahs. The ships of 
Solomon bore the name of Jehovah to India on the 
East and to the Pillars of Hercules on the West. 
And with their capital and temple in ruins and their 
land laid waste, they became a nation of missionaries 



204 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

in foreign countries. The time of exile was the mis- 
sionary age of the Jewish Church and nation. Thor- 
oughly cured of idolatry, chastened and spiritualized 
by affliction, although without temple and altar, and 
with her harps on the willows, the Church became 
vigorously and valiantly aggressive. Her Psalms 
were sung in the palaces of kings. Cyrus the Great 
studied prophecy, and under the impulse of that study 
sent the exiles home with their holy vessels to re-es- 
tablish the worship of Jehovah on Mount Zion. The 
seeds of truth were scattered as on the wings of the 
wind in the dispersion. Alexander the Great, in his 
conquests, carried with him the language of the Sep- 
tuagint. These latter days of Judaism were distin- 
guished for vigorous, aggressive activity. Syna- 
gogues were planted everywhere ; and what were these 
but mission chapels ? The unworthy proselytism 
which the Saviour denounced was only a distortion 
of this missionary zeal. It is deserving of special 
emphasis that while national glory was waning — 
while crown and sceptre were passing away, the truth 
which had been committed to the chosen people was 
widely disseminated among the nations. In this way 
the earth-shaking tread of Nebuchadnezzar, Cyrus, 
and Alexander the Great prepared the way of the 
Lord. So that in the course of history from Eden to 
Calvary, there never was an hour when the Church 
was authorized to confine the blessings of the Gospel 
within circumscribed limits. The people of Israel 
were subjected to separistic ordinances only in order 
that they might be educated in spiritual knowledge, 
and thus be fitted to transmit this knowledge to others. 
It was the aim and purpose and spirit of the dispen- 



THE SPIRIT OF MISSIONS. 205 

sation to prepare a nation, each member of which 
would be fitted to become a missionary to the Gen- 
tiles. He who was a Hebrew of the Hebrews became 
"the Apostle to the Gentiles." The philosophy of 
history, therefore, is the spirit of missions. 

The spirit of prophecy, moreover, is the spirit of 
missions. The vision of the seers was fixed upon the 
form of the Son of Man towering above the coming 
events and advancing generations. In the distance, 
cross and crown and kingdom blend ; humiliation and 
suffering lead to conquest and universal dominion, 
and the last and highest note of prophecy is always a 
note of triumph. 

In the very beginning of his sublime prophecies, the 
rapt son of Amoz saw " all nations flowing unto the 
mountain of the Lord's house. ,, Beyond the battle 
of the warrior with confused noise and garments 
rolled in blood, he saw arise the Prince of Peace, " of 
the increase of whose government there shall be no 
end"; whose administration is to be confined to no 
pent-up limits, but who is to "bring forth judgment to 
the Gentiles," who is given " for a covenant of the 
people," a " light of the Gentiles," who is to " set judg- 
ment in the earth," who is to "sprinkle many nations," 
to " bring forth judgment unto victory," and although 
bruised and put sorely to grief, he is to " see of the 
travail of his soul and be satisfied." He is to " divide 
the spoil with the strong," " the isles are to wait for 
his law," and " all flesh shall see his glory." 

By an eternal decree the " heathen are given to the 
Son for his inheritance, and the uttermost parts of 
the earth for his possession." The wail of anguish 
in the 22d Psalm passes into a shout of triumph in 



206 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

view of the fact that " All the ends of the earth shall 
remember and turn unto the Lord, and all the kin- 
dreds of the nations shall worship before him." 

Even Balaam heard the shout of a king among the 
people of God, and saw a sceptre rise out of Israel 
which was to be swayed over the nations. The royal 
son of David depicts, in glowing colors, the benefi- 
cence of the reign of the Prince of Peace ; describes 
the growth of his kingdom until it reaches from " sea 
to sea," and " from the river unto the ends of the 
earth." He watches the handful of corn in the earth 
on the top of the mountain until the " fruit thereof 
shakes like Lebanon." He sees the blessing of 
Abraham fulfilled in Christ, and hears all nations call- 
ing him blessed. Then prophecy passed into praise 
in the sublime doxology : " Blessed be the Lord God, 
the God of Israel, who only doeth wondrous things. 
And blessed be his glorious name forever; and let 
the whole earth be filled with his glory. Amen and 
Amen." 

If we turn to the prophecies respecting the Church, 
we shall find the same spirit pervading them. The 
Bible knows nothing of a Church which is restricted 
to any limits of race or of latitude. The vision of 
the seers never rested until it touched the ends of 
the earth. 

When the " Church shall rise and shine," the 
"Gentiles shall come to her light and kings to the 
brightness of her rising." " The abundance of the 
sea," " the forces of the Gentiles," " the dromedaries 
of Midian and Ephah," " the gold and incense of 
Sheba," " the flocks of Kedar," " the ships of Tar- 
shish," " the glory of Lebanon," " the service of the 



THE SPIRIT OF MISSIONS. 207 

sons of strangers," and " the ministry of kings" shall 
be devoted to her. According to her chartered rights 
she is authorized to take possession of the earth in 
the name of her Lord. By her commission she is 
commanded to "go into all the world and preach the 
Gospel to every creature," and when by faith she shall 
arise to the level of her duties and her responsibilities, 
the Lord will put all forces, material, financial, and 
political, at her service. Commerce, science and art, 
peoples and kings, will become her allies. " The 
earth will help the woman " 

Two objects filled the vision of the prophets as they 
looked down the long avenues of the future. These 
objects were the coming Messiah and the Church 
redeemed by his blood ; and the mission of the one 
and the progress of the other were unrestricted by 
any limits of race, latitude, or nationality. Before 
the cross all lines are obliterated. The blood-washed 
congregation come "out of every kindred, and tongue, 
and people, and nation.'" With a steady gaze and an 
unwavering purpose, Prophecy points forward to a 
time when the " kingdoms of this world shall become 
the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ." Whither 
Prophecy points, thither should the Church move with 
unfaltering faith and with undeviating step. 

The types of Scripture carry in them the same sub- 
lime lesson. A type is an embodied prophecy ; and 
the entire system of typology in the Old Testament is 
in complete harmony and sympathy with the cove- 
nants, promises, and prophecies, both in thought, spirit, 
and impulse, and gives expression to them moreover 
in a dramatic form. When our first parents were 
driven out of Paradise, the Tree of Life was left 



208 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

standing in the midst of the garden. It was kept for 
man, until he should be led back to it through the 
righteousness of another. The cherubim and the 
flaming sword were not placed at the east of the 
garden to terrify man, but to "keep the way of 
the Tree of Life." The flaming sword turned 
every way, so that when the time came, access to the 
tree might be had from every quarter. Here, then, 
was an embodied promise of a coming salvation and 
of a reunion of humanity. The Tree of Life in the 
midst of the garden expressed in type that which the 
Protevangelium expressed in words. From Eden, 
Prophecy flings her bow of promise until it spans the 
whole course of time and touches again the " Paradise 
of God, in the midst of which is the Tree of Life, to 
which all who do his commandments have a right." 
The Tree of Life was thus kept for no one race or 
nation, but for all of every race and of every nation 
who shall accept the proffered salvation. 

At the east gate of Eden cherubim were placed. 
We find them also in the tabernacle and in the 
temple, as well as in the visions of Ezekiel and of 
John. These strange figures arrest attention and 
excite enquiry both from their peculiar form and by 
reason of the positions which they occupy in- Revela- 
tion. The cherubim were composite figures, com- 
bining in themselves the four highest forms of animal 
life. Typically they represent glorified humanity. 
By their position in Eden they showed that the way 
to the Tree of Life was kept open for the return 
of fallen man. By their position in the Holy of 
Holies they showed that, through atoning blood, 
humanity is raised to the throne of God, since they 



THE SPIRIT OF MISSIONS. 209 

overshadowed the Mercy Seat, which was the dwelling- 
place of Jehovah. In the vision of Ezekiel they are 
also in connection with the throne of God, and thus 
typify the exaltation of our glorified humanity. In 
the Apocalypse they, together with the elders, sing 
the new song, saying : " Thou art worthy to take the 
book, and to open the seals thereof : for thou wast 
slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out 
of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation. 
And hast made us unto our God kings and priests, 
and we shall reign on the earth. " Then the angels 
to the number of ten thousand times ten thousand 
and thousands of thousands, catch up the mighty 
strain, saying, with a loud voice : " Worthy is the 
Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, 
and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and 
blessing." Then all creation joins the universal 
chorus, saying : " Blessing, and honor, and glory, and 
power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and 
unto the Lamb for ever and ever." That which w T as 
suggested in type in Eden is now consummated in 
heaven. Grace has triumphed. Glorified humanity, 
with indefinite powers and possibilities, comes from 
"every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation." 
From Genesis to Revelation — from Eden to the Para- 
dise of God, the types of Scripture point along the 
exact line of the covenants and of prophecy, and find 
their realization in a Church blood-washed and re- 
deemed out of every nation under the whole heaven. 
Along that line the Church must move or be derelict 
in her first and her last duty. 

The Son of God, in whose Person and life were 
represented all the spiritual forces of previous dispen- 



2IO OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

sations, when about to leave the earth — with the marks 
of his sacrificial death upon him — gave to his apostles 
the supreme law of the Church : " Go ye into all the 
world, and preach the Gospel to every creature." 
This must ever be the norm and standard of duty for 
the Church of Christ. By disregarding it, the Church 
forfeits her claim to the perpetual presence of her 
ascended and power-invested Lord. 

Pentecost, the festival of first fruits and the memo- 
rial of the giving of the Law, had its typical fulfilment 
in the inauguration of the Covenant of Grace and in 
the gathering of the first-fruits of the new dispensa- 
tion. By tempest and flame the Holy Ghost was 
manifested, and the apostles began to speak as the 
Spirit gave them utterance, so that " men out of every 
nation under heaven heard in their own tongues the 
wonderful works of God." Races dispersed at Babel 
were reunited at Pentecost. The import of the cloven 
tongues of flame was that the Gospel was to be 
preached in all languages, in all lands, and to all 
nations. No one tongue was to have a monopoly of 
the good news. The message could no more be con- 
fined to Palestine than a peal of thunder can be pent 
up in the cloud which gives it birth. 

Pentecost was the harvested results of former dis- 
pensations, as well as the inauguration of the new 
dispensation ; and, consequently, comprehended in 
itself the spiritual forces of both the past and the 
present, and these concentrated forces met and 
blended in one focal thought and purpose — The 
Gospel to every creature. This should be the supreme 
thought of the Church from which nothing must 
divert her. Just before his ascension the Lord said 



THE SPIRIT OF MISSIONS. 211 

to his disciples : " It is not for you to know the times 
or the seasons which the Father hath put in his own 
power ; but ye shall receive power after that the Holy 
Ghost is come upon you ; and ye shall be witnesses 
unto me, both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in 
Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. " 
The power of the Holy Ghost and the spirit of mis- 
sions are synonymous. The language of the Lord just 
quoted contains the charter of our Boards of Home 
and Foreign Missions. There was no time for idle 
speculations, while Judea and Samaria were without 
the Gospel. The manifest and imperative duty of the 
Church was to carry the Gospel from Jerusalem to the 
uttermost part of the earth. Home missions were not 
to be neglected, nor were foreign missions to be for- 
gotten. Through Judea and Samaria the Church was 
to reach the uttermost part of the earth. The same 
law binds us — binds us as really as though the Lord had 
uttered those words to us directly. We have our 
Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria, and through these we 
are to push our conquests to the ends of the earth. 
The whole work of the Church is one work. No two 
parts of it antagonize. This work the Lord Jesus 
Christ has committed to the Church in an awfully 
solemn commission and stewardship. How can 
the Church answer to the Lord for the non-accom- 
plishment of the work which has been assigned 
her? 

The apostles understood the import of their com- 
mission and went forth to the fulfilment of it in the 
spirit of their Master ; one to Mesopotamia, another 
to Parthia ; one to Scythia, another to India, and Paul 
"far hence to the Gentiles. ,, They took the commis- 



2 12 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

sion and translated it into heroic deeds and triumphant 
martyrdoms. 

The spirit of missions which breathed in the 
promises, which lived and wrought in the covenants, 
which sustained the voice of prophecy, which shaped 
the course of history, which inspired the prayers of 
patriarchs, prophets, and kings, which was sung in 
Psalms and dramatized in types, became at last incar- 
nate in the apostles. From the Protevangelium to 
the Apocalypse, the idea of missions pervades every 
part and every page of the Bible. It is the fibre of 
its life, the blood of its veins, the pulse-beat of its 
heart. He, therefore, who would escape responsi- 
bility in this matter must be blind to all the events of 
a comprehensive Providence in the past, deaf to all 
the voices of prophecy for the future, dead to all the 
appeals of duty for the present ; he must tear out of 
the Word of God that which constitutes the very 
warp and woof of it ; he must repudiate the example 
of apostles and martyrs ; he must deny the " Lord 
that bought him." 

Nor has there been anything in the history of these 
eighteen centuries to lift this responsibility from the 
heart and the conscience of the Church. There is 
not a single reason, motive, or impulse which actuated 
and impelled the Apostle Paul which should not, in an 
equal degree, actuate and impel us. He, indeed, saw 
in all their enormity the pollutions and atrocities of 
Paganism. He saw thrones and fortunes built on the 
tears and blood of the poor. He saw the family in 
ruins, woman a slave, infancy exposed to death, and 
old age dishonored. He was brought in contact with 
religions in which lust and murder were enjoined as 



THE SPIRIT OF MISSIONS. 213 

acts of worship. On every hand were altars which 
reeked with filth, and temples which flamed with the 
unchaste creations of genius. The people came to 
the shrine and the priests came to the altar with 
images of uncleanness before them on every side. 
Children grew up amidst scenes and in an atmos- 
phere where modesty and virtue were stifled before 
years of discretion were reached. A lewd mythology 
was the catechism of youth. But in this there was noth- 
ing peculiar. Such was and is and will be human na- 
ture without the Gospel. Paganism improves not with 
age. " The world by wisdom knows not God." The 
awful indictment framed against the heathen world in 
the first chapter of the Epistle to the Romans still 
stands in force in every count and specification of 
it. The very evils which the Gospel encountered in 
the Roman empire, it encounters in heathendom to- 
day. The Gospel at first restored the family, lifted 
woman to her true dignity, and proclaimed the uni- 
versal brotherhood of man. It purified and conserved 
civilization at home, and laid foundations for new 
institutions and new civilizations abroad. The Gos- 
pel has the same spheres in which to operate now, 
and the same functions to perform within these 
spheres. To his ancient people God said : " Behold I 
have set the land before you ; go in and possess the 
land." By his Word and by the commingling voices of 
his Providence, he is saying with emphasis the same 
thing to us. To no other nation, in all time, has he given 
such a heritage as he has given to us — a land whose 
territory extends " from sea to sea," whose " stones 
are iron," and whose "rocks pour out rivers of oil." 
Along with this wealth of heritage come correspond- 



214 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

ing and commensurate responsibilities. We do not 
have a perpetual lease of our liberties and privileges ; 
but the continuance of these will depend upon the 
manner in which we use our stewardship. If the 
purifying and conservative influences of the Gospel do 
not pervade the body politic, not only shall we perish, 
but the very elements of our strength and greatness 
will become the swift instruments of our destruction. 
We shall fall to pieces of our own weight. The ballot- 
box will become our Pandora Box. Constitutions and 
charters will become so much waste parchment, and 
the ghastly skeleton of our greatness will be flung 
into the charnel-house of nations. In the home work 
of the Church, therefore, there is a field for the exer- 
cise of the purest patriotism and the profoundest 
statesmanship. The loftiest eloquence of Senate 
chambers cannot save nations in which the masses 
are corrupt. While Cicero was thundering in Senate 
and Forum, Roman liberty was expiring in the grasp 
of a despot. A pure Gospel for the people is the 
only hope for this nation. Without this the republic 
will not complete the first half of the second century 
of its existence. If this overthrow of the republic 
should come, the ruins of it will be the most melan- 
choly of all those which mark the track of nations ! 
The only way in which so dire a calamity can be 
averted is by evangelizing the masses. This, fathers 
and brethren, is one of the deepest convictions of my 
heart. What superlative folly, then, for men to rob 
the treasury of the Lord in order to hoard up fortunes 
for their children ! Rather let them, by their Chris- 
tian labors and benevolence, make sure that their chil- 
dren shall have a country in which to live ; that there 



THE SPIRIT OF MISSIONS. 215 

shall be in the country institutions under which 
the dearest rights and interests of life will be pro- 
tected. 

Nor must we forget that "the field is the world, " A 
thousand Macedonian cries come to us, for one which 
came to Paul. Our faith, our prayers, and our gifts 
must embrace the whole world. It is no mean honor 
to belong to a Church which has its arms around the 
globe. Let us not be unworthy sons of such a Church. 
Rather than deny their Lord timid young girls faced 
the Libyan tiger and the Nemaean lion in the Colos- 
seum. It is to be feared that some deny their Lord 
now rather than give a few dollars of their superfluous 
wealth to his service. The Lord does not call us to 
martyrdom, but surely he does call us to some service 
which involves self-denial and self-sacrifice. In the 
Levitical economy it was required by statute that a 
tenth be given to the Lord. In the Christian dispen- 
sation the amount or proportion is left to the con- 
science of each individual : but surelv it should not 
be less, but more. Abraham gave voluntarily to 
Melchizedek a tithe of the best — " from the top of the 
heap." Of one thing we may rest assured ; the king- 
dom of Christ will come whether we aid in its coming 
or not. If we refuse to do our duty, widows and 
orphans will take up the work and carry it on. 

Nations die of plethora — of financial apoplexy. 
The hoarded wealth of Rome destroyed her. Mer- 
cenaries bore her eagles to defeat and disgrace. A 
similar fate awaits this nation unless its rapidly ac- 
cumulating wealth be carried through channels of 
benevolence to the ends of the earth. In this respect 
a great responsibility rests upon the office-bearers of 



2l6 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

the Church ; for if they w,ho bear the Ark of the 
Lord go forward, the people will follow. 

In every system there is some principle which is 
controlling, harmonizing, and regnant. In the prac- 
tical operations of the Church we find such a princi- 
ple in the spirit of missions. When this spirit is active 
and vigorous, all schemes of beneficence are carried 
forward harmoniously and successfully ; and this is 
so, simply because the spirit of missions is the spirit 
of the Bible, and the spirit of the Master. So long, 
then, as this spirit is regnant in the Church, her prog- 
ress will be steady and harmonious and abreast of 
the developments of Providence ; and her march will 
be in the line of the covenants, promises, and prophe- 
cies, and every step will be toward victory. Prepara- 
tory influences are at work on a vast scale ; and when 
these shall have fulfilled the plan of God, then, 
" nations shall be born at once." The Lord of Hosts 
is organizing victory. " He will hasten it in his time." 

For ten years the Grecian sentinels kept their 
watchtowers, waiting "and watching for the beacon- 
fires which should announce the fall of Troy. At last 
the signal came — a flash of light — and from tower to 
tower the fiery message leaped over land and over sea, 
until from Ida to Argos the announcement of victory 
had been carried on the wing of the flame. 

So the watchmen of Zion " shall lift up the voice ; 
with the voice together shall they sing ; for they shall 
see eye to eye " when the light of the Gospel shall 
flash from shore to shore, from island to island, from 
continent to continent, from pole to pole, and u the 
whole earth shall be filled with his glory. Amen and 
Amen." 



II. 

"QUIT YOU LIKE MEN." 



II. 

"QUIT YOU LIKE MEN."* 

" Quit you like men." — I Cor. xvi. 13. 

These words stand near the close of this epistle. 
They are a part of the concluding exhortation. The 
sentence is a short, but a very strong and significant 
one. Neither the language nor the idea was original 
with Paul. The text is a quotation from the Old 
Testament. In a battle between the Israelites and 
Philistines, Israel was defeated with a loss of four 
thousand men. They wondered why the Lord had 
smitten them, and determined to send to Shiloh for 
the ark of the covenant that it might save them from 
their enemies. Accordingly the ark was sent for, and 
when it came into the camp was welcomed with such 
enthusiastic shoutings as to send terror and dismay 
throughout the ranks of the enemy. But the narra- 
tive itself is graphic : 

"And when the ark of the covenant of the Lord 
came into the camp, all Israel shouted with a great 
shout, so that the earth rang again. 

" And when the Philistines heard the noise of the 
shout, they said, What meaneth the noise of this 
great shout in the camp of the Hebrews ? And they 

* Before the Society of Religious Inquiry, of Washington 
College, June 17, 1855. 

219 



220 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

understood that the ark of the Lord was come into 
the camp. 

" And the Philistines were afraid, for they said, God 
is come into the camp. And they said, woe unto us ! 
for there has not been such a thing heretofore. 

" Woe unto us ! who shall deliver us out of the 
hand oi these mighty Gods ? these are the Gods that 
smote the Egyptians with all the plagues in the wilder- 
ness." 

But their language was not all the language of 
despondency and despair. Hear their commanders 
speak : 

" Be strong and quit yourselves like men, O ye 
Philistines, that ye be not servants unto the Hebrews, 
as they have been to you : quit yourselves like men, 
and fight. " 

Paul's imperial fancy laid all things under tribute. 
From the arena and the battle-field he drew some of 
his most startling imagery. The whole of the verse 
from which my text is taken is couched in military 
language : " Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit 
you like men, be strong/' The idiom of the text is 
somewhat unusual, yet very impressive. It is used 
by Xenophon and other classic writers, and signifies 
a manly, conscientious discharge of duty, or intrepid 
conduct in danger. " Samson," says Milton, " quit 
himself like Samson." 

Paul and the Philistine, however, spoke from very 
different platforms indeed. The one stood on the 
battle-field — one sanguinary conflict over and a second 
in prospect ; while the other stood on a watch-tower 
of Zion. The conduct, then, of course demanded by 
the one would involve in it far more than that de- 



" QUIT YOU LIKE MEN." 221 

manded by the other. A stubborn resolution, with 
more of the dogged than the heroic in it, would have 
met the demands of the Philistine : but Paul has 
spiritualized and expanded the idea. 

Christianity sanctions neither churlishness nor pusil- 
lanimity. It makes the heart bigger and the views 
broader — the affections more chaste, the sympathies 
more catholic. Never, no, never did Christianity 
make a man anything less than a man. It makes men 
humble, it is true, but humility is not a mean or 
crouching feeling. It is a rational sentiment founded 
on self-knowledge. The humblest Christian that bows 
in dust and ashes before his God has a far more ex- 
alted idea of the dignity of his nature than the proud- 
est Pagan that ever trod the earth. Webster said, 
everything great is simple. We may add, everything 
great is humble. It is narrow and unworthy ideas of 
what we are and what we are to be, that make men 
proud ; whereas, it is a lofty consciousness of the vast 
capacities of the soul, and a sense of the meagreness 
of present attainments, that make men humble. The 
Latin tyro declining stella is wiser in his own conceit 
than Newton composing his Principia. Webster was 
as much an humbler, as he was a greater man than 
Joe Smith the Mormon. Absalom was prouder than 
Solomon. 

Christianity not only enlarges the heart, but the 
intellect also. The Christian's text-book — the Bible 
— is above all other documents, extant or extinct, in 
sublimity and all that expands and exalts the soul. 
Those who study it most become not only mighty in 
the Scriptures, but mighty in word and deed also. 
Take from Milton the language and imagery of the 



222 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

Bible, and you have shorn him of his strength and 
glory. Byron borrowed his beauties and his sub- 
limities, too, from the Book of Books. Chatham read 
Isaiah for hours before going to the House of Com- 
mons in order to arouse and elevate his mind for his 
contemplated effort. Burke read the Bible "morning, 
noon, and night." " He formed a habit," says his 
biographer, " of going freely to its pages for imagery 
and illustrations. " And was there ever a man of 
broader views than Burke? "The first thing/' says 
a judicious reviewer, " that strikes us in a survey of 
Burke's mind is its remarkable comprehensiveness. 
He had an amplitude of mind, a power and compass 
of intellectual vision, beyond that of most men that 
ever lived." I do not say that these Bible readings 
made Burke everything that he was ; but I will say, 
that without them he would never have been either 
the man or the orator that he was. 

Christianity and the Bible had a similar effect upon 
the intellect and ideas of Newton, our enemies them- 
selves being the judges. That illustrious philosopher, 
in his commentary on Daniel, remarked that before 
the fulfilment of the prophecy (viz., 1260 years) the 
modes of travelling would be so improved that men 
would go fifty miles an hour. Upon this, Voltaire 
made the following criticism : " Now look at that 
mighty mind of Newton who discovered gravitation, 
and told such marvels for us all to admire ; when he 
became an old man and got into his dotage, he began 
to study that book called the Bible, and it seems that 
in order to credit its fabulous nonsense we must be- 
lieve that the knowledge of mankind will be so 
increased that we shall be able to travel fifty miles an 



" QUIT YOU LIKE MEN. 223 

hour. The poor old dotard ! " A little more than a 
century only has elapsed since Newton penned his 
prediction, and we travel already sixty miles an hour. 
Besides, we have summoned " the winged minister of 
thunder" to our service, and send it over the land and 
under the water, to do our errands for us. In the light 
of the nineteenth century, Voltaire's opprobrious epi- 
thet, dotard, seems much more applicable to himself 
than to the object of his pity. 

Permit me now to enumerate some things which, 
according to my conception of the subject, enter into 
the character and course of conduct demanded by 
the text. And here, I observe, that this character in 
its general features comprises : 

I. Love and loyalty to God, 

II. Integrity toward man, 

III. And fidelity to self. 

No one will presume to say that Wolsey was any 
less honorable or manly because he loved and assidu- 
ously served his king. His error was not that he 
loved and served his sovereign, but that he loved and 
served him to the exclusion of his Creator ; hence his 
bitter reflection on his death-bed, that if he had served 
his God as he had served his king he would not, then, 
have deserted him. 

If love and loyalty to an earthly king be manly, 
love and loyalty to the King of Kings, still more. 
Love to God as a principle of action is the grand 
governor in the machinery of a man's motives and 
efforts. This is the loadstone that gives to human pur- 
suits their proper direction — a heavenward tendency. 
To adopt the figure of another : " If you carry steel 
filings from a muddy street to a beautiful garden, you 



224 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

make an improvement in their condition, but if you 
apply a magnet to them, you give to them another 
motion altogether, and lift them not horizontally but 
vertically from the earth." All the elevation of man 
by science and civilization is only a horizontal change. 
It is reserved for grace to change man's pursuits from 
a prone to an upward direction — to raise him from 
earth toward heaven. 

Without this controlling element the most laudable 
enterprises are " Babel-building and will have a 
Babel issue." " A crown reached in the face of God 
will be but a burning circlet. A throne or a presi- 
dential chair attained by violation of the laws of God 
will be a restless seat. Reputation and renown 
achieved in spite of God will be but poor enjoyment 
to him who has them." But how all this Babel ambi- 
tion of getting a name sinks into less than insignifi- 
cance in presence of the grand master principle of the 
Christian iife. Love to God once in the heart, and 
human life moves on, " wheel within wheel," with all 
the beautiful regularity and delicate adjustment of a 
celestial system — steady and undeviating as the rings 
of Saturn, as they whirl with almost incredible 
velocity around their planet and keep it company, at 
the same time, in its pathway round the sun, bound 
by no bands — suspended in space by no power, save 
the invisible but omnipotent influence of attraction. 
How alike are God's natural and moral governments ! 
" Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness," 
is the precept ; " and all things shall be added unto 
3^ou," is the promise. What is this but the law of 
gravitation in the moral universe? " All falls under 
it, clusters around it, becomes holy and prosperous 



" QUIT YOU LIKE MEN." 225 

just by love's being in the heart and actuating all." 
The sum of the moral law is love to God and integ- 
rity toward man, and there is not a virtue adorns our 
nature or exalts our species but is the offspring of 
these parent virtues. Conformity to God's law will 
evolve a manhood of the most consummate symmetry, 
perfection, and proportion. Deviating from this 
standard, down the scale we go till we land in 
drunkenness and debauchery, on a level with the beast. 

But while the moral law enjoins duties toward God 
and man it no less distinctly enjoins duties toward 
self. We have an inspired epitome of the Ten Com- 
mandments in which self-love is made the standard of 
our philanthropy. The law requires no man to love 
his neighbor, whether Jew or Samaritan — more than 
himself. To defend one's body, and one's good 
name — compared with which " the purse is trash " — 
is only to obey an exalted instinct. He who does less 
is a suicide. 

But to descend to particulars, I observe : It is 
manly and manlike to bear contumely and reproach 
in defence of the truth, in advocacy of the right, and 
in behalf of the weak. So long as the constitution 
of our nature continues as it is, it will require more 
of moral heroism than men ordinarily possess, to 
brook the sneers of public odium. The pangs of the 
rack or the stake are little harder to endure than the 
pointing of the finger of scorn. John Blair Smith 
said, that of all the trials and sufferings enumerated 
in the eleventh chapter of Hebrews, none struck him 
as being so severe as the " cruel mockings " mentioned 
there. The wagging of the heads of the passers-by 
was made an ingredient in the Crucifixion. To bear 



226 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

popular contumely from day to day — to be met at 
every corner by the pointing of scorn's contemptu- 
ous finger, and to see continually the wagging of the 
heads of those that pass by, is a living crucifixion 
still. Yet the world has but little of which to be 
proud to-night but has cost some one suffering, loss 
and ridicule. The first principle of modern astron- 
omy, taught now in the nursery and the lap, cost poor 
old Galileo wearisome days and nights in prison. 
The right of private judgment — a free pen and a free 
press — cost both blood and treasure. It is said there 
was not a single man in the venerable Synod of Dort 
who had not been maimed or mutilated in some limb 
or member, for the truth's sake. Hampden braved 
the displeasure of his sovereign, rather than pay a 
penny or a peppercorn of unjust taxation. Such men 
are martyrs, for they had the spirit of a martyr and 
should have a martyr's crown. 

Again : It is manlike to live and labor for the 
amelioration of the present, and the permanent good 
of posterity, to the disregard of the ephemeral applause 
that accrues to the sycophant and time-server. 

Popular fame and favor have a marvellous power 
over the human mind and heart. To obtain them, 
many (alas ! but too many) are willing to sacrifice 
their integrity and independence, and to assume the 
air and address of the demagogue Absalom. To such 
the voice of the people is louder than the voice of God. 
" But to put to hazard one's ease, security, interest, or 
popularity," for the benefit of those he has never seen 
is a trait — you may depend upon it, my brethren — it is 
a trait of the true man. 

The path of duty is rarely easy and never, indeed, 



" QUIT YOU LIKE MEN." 227 

flowery. " Obloquy," says Burke, " is a necessary 
ingredient in the composition of all true glory. Not 
only in Roman customs, but in the very nature and 
constitution of things, calumny and abuse are essen- 
tial parts of a triumph." To relinquish honors and 
hopes for the sake of sentiments honestly adhered to, 
to turn the back upon and pursue a course that leads 
away from ease and laurels, and do it from a con- 
viction pf duty, is manlike. But if there is in all the 
wide, wide world one who should be taken as the 
standard of all that is pusillanimous and little, it is 
he who cringingly compromises his sentiments for 
popularity or applause, and accommodates his con- 
duct to the crooked policy of avarice or ambition. 
He who subdues a hemisphere, and does it from self- 
ish and sordid motives, deserves not as much glory 
as he who plants a tree for posterity. Byron sought 
the applause of his own generation, and catered to the 
tastes of a degenerate age to win it. Verily, he 
obtained his reward ! Milton had an aim and object 
far above the mercenary motives of most men. His 
invocation is not to Mammon or the Muses, but to 
the Holy Spirit. Yet Byron acquired fame and a 
fortune, too, while Milton realized but fifteen paltry 
pounds for " Paradise Lost." But it is not difficult 
to decide which of these men acted more in consist- 
ence with the dictates of a true manliness. Ay ! it is 
manlike to spurn lucre and reputation when the 
attainment of them conflicts with our duty to God 
or to our fellow-men. None but the truly manly do it. 
Again : To alleviate misery ; to go to the house of 
mourning in preference to the house of feasting ; to 
light up the chamber of sickness and suffering ; " to 



228 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

explore the thought and explain the asking eye of 
the sufferer"; to brighten the path of life and 
smooth the pillow of death ; this, this is manlike — I 
had almost said it is godlike. 

Howard in the pestilence and prisons of Europe 
is a far prouder specimen of our species than Napo- 
leon on the throne of France, with a nation at his 
feet and a world in awe of him. Miss Nightingale 
amidst the sick and wounded, in the hospital^ of Scu- 
tari, is a far, far greater glory to her sex and her race 
than the Queen of England and the Empress of 
France, amidst the pomp and parade of a royal visit 
to London. The traveller in the millennium will pass 
by in disgust all the sensual and fulsome inscriptions 
on the tombs of kings and conquerors — from that of 
Sardanapalus, which Aristotle said was fit only for a 
hog, to that of the latest royal murderer — but will 
pause and read with peculiar interest the simple 
epitaph of Howard : " Vixit propter alios" and feel 
while standing there, that he is at the grave of a man 
who in his lifetime quit himself like a man. 

The history of the world furnishes the life and 
example of but one perfect man. That example, 
however, thank Heaven ! is neither negative nor 
neutral. Christ's philanthropy is always and every- 
where apparent. He not only went about doing good 
but went in search of good to do. Nor did ridicule 
and contempt dampen his benevolence or arrest in 
the least his beneficence. Amidst scorn and laugh- 
ter he raised the ruler of the synagogue's daughter. 
Escaping from an infuriated mob, who are attempting 
to stone him, he meets a blind man ; and apparently 
unconscious of his own situation, stops and restores 



"quit you like men." 229 

the man's sight. The Saviour's sympathies were 
hemmed in by no restrictions of caste, narrowed 
down by no country or creed. The Syro-Phenician 
and Samaritan — the soldier and the soldier's servant, 
his friend, and his foe in arms against him — challenged 
alike his attention and his tenderness. He was no 
less very God and perfect man, while weeping at the 
grave of his friend Lazarus, than when entering Jeru- 
salem amidst the hosannas of the inhabitants. If there 
is any virtue or meaning in Divine precept and example, 
then, verily, a philanthropic heart, a benevolent dis- 
position, and beneficent hand are the noblest attri- 
butes of our nature. 

Again : An energy that is indomitable and that 
never desponds is a trait of the true man. 

Milton has almost constrained us to admire Satan 
himself, by investing him with just such a character. 

" To be weak is to be miserable, doing or suffering. ,, 
Luther never rises into loftier sublimity than when 
rallying his timid and misgiving comrade Melanchthon. 
Washington was never in his life more himself than 
when, in the darkest hour of the Revolution, he aroused 
the expiring energies of his staff by telling them that 
he could not yet persuade himself that his neck, which 
he playfully clasped with both his hands, was made 
for a halter. There spoke out the spirit of a man, 
indeed, in whom there was no guile. Canrobert was 
never more of a man or a hero than when he told the 
discouraged allies to " be still ; be still ; if they could 
not get into Sevastopol by the door, they would leap in 
at the window.'' The storm strengthens the sturdy 
oaks ; it is the weak ones only that it prostrates. Yet 
a man may win battles, subdue empires, or in a pro- 



230 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

pitious moment vault into a vacant throne and after 
all be only, at best, a lucky fool ; but he who wins 
his way, step by step, through difficulties and dis- 
couragements — nothing daunted all the while — though 
it be but to the humblest post of influence and useful- 
ness, " gives to the world assurance of a man." 
Cicero in his study was a greater hero than Caesar in 
a battle. At one time in the battle of Inkermann, a 
division of the British army was surrounded by ten 
times their number. At this critical hour the terror- 
stricken soldiers cried out to Sir George Cathcart, 
the commander, that the ammunition was failing. 
" Have you not still your bayonets, boys ? " calmly 
replied Sir George. The old hero fell a few moments 
after, covered with mortal wounds, but that remark 
itself will immortalize him. When one resource fails, 
it is a characteristic of manly energy to fly to what is 
left. When the cartridges are expended, brethren, 
rely upon the bayonet. And then, when this energy 
of which I am speaking is strengthened by faith and 
perseverance quickened by prayer, they become ele- 
ments that possess more than a talismanic power. 

Once more : Generosity is an element of manliness. 

It is unnecessary, before this audience, to draw a dis- 
tinction between generosity and prodigality, between 
the benevolent man and the spendthrift. Yet this 
trait will appear to better advantage when laid along- 
side of its opposite, avarice. 

Of all the gods enthroned in the Pantheon of an 
idolatrous world's worship, the Money God is the 
meanest ; and of all men among mankind, the miser 
has the narrowest heart. Avarice contracts the soul 
into a nutshell and congeals the heart into an icicle 



" QUIT YOU LIKE MEN." 231 

The drunkard may plead early temptation as an excuse 
for his vices. The gambler attempts to extenuate his 
crime by calling it polite amusement or gentlemanly 
sport. The duellist quotes the code of honor and 
screens himself, though dripping with blood, behind his 
chivalry, and even the highwayman talks loudly of his 
bravery and lofty daring ; but what excuse or extenua- 
tion for the miser? The mean idolator, who "adores 
the dirt matured to gold." Avarice is not only antag- 
onistic to true manliness, but it is pusillanimity. It 
was Mammon — " the least erected spirit that fell from 
heaven" — that broke ground in building Pandemo- 
nium ; and from that day to this the fiend has been 
pursuing his graceless calling. In every heart of 
which he takes possession he builds a Pandemonium, 
where he and the seven other evil spirits he always 
takes with him, revel and hold jubilee, to the total 
exclusion of everything that is generous or good. 
The laws and institutions of Lycurgus were designed 
to develop the magnanimity of the nation. According 
to those institutions the money of the Spartans was 
made of iron, and even yet the name Spartan is almost 
synonymous with all that is magnanimous and noble. 
All nature is generous and teaches us an example 
of generosity. The rose is not stingy of its fragrance 
even to the desert air. The clouds do not hoard 
their treasures, but shower them upon the woods and 
fields, and they, in return, send up their vapors as 
incense to the clouds again. The earth gives forth 
nourishment to the orchard and the garden, and they, 
in return, throw down their golden gifts into the lap of 
their mother. How dare that man lay claim to genu- 
ine humanity who is not only dead to all the generous 



232 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

impulses of his own nature, but insensible, also, to 
the teachings of inanimate nature all about and above 
him ? He who spends his life in hoarding dollar upon 
dollar, only in the end to tantalize him with con- 
tentment and happiness ; who sits counting and con- 
templating his money in his chest, while wretchedness 
and want stand shivering at his door ; who shuts his 
heart as closely as his coffer to all the appeals of 
charity at home and to the Macedonian cry that 
pierces his ear, from every point of the compass, from 
abroad — oh, it is folly, absolute folly, to say that such 
a one is a man in Paul's sense of the word ! 

As another element of manliness I would specify a 
rational courage that shrinks not to meet death in 
the path of duty, whenever, however, or wherever, 
that event may, in the providence of God, take place. 

This, of course, is different from that recklessness 
that throws life away as a thing not worth having. 
The courage of which I speak is consistent with the 
most perfect prudence. 

Death is by no means the greatest calamity that 
can befall a person. A man may live too long. 
When life no longer meets the ends of life, it ceases 
to be desirable. Napoleon said he should have died 
at Waterloo, or sooner. He spoke, it is true, from the 
abundance of a vain heart, but asserted a great truth, 
nevertheless. To his friends, who were dissuading 
him from sailing on a certain occasion, Pompey re- 
plied : " It is necessary for me to sail, but it is not nec- 
essary for me to live." A pompous speech in Pom- 
pey's sense of it ; yet, it has a Christian application 
and propriety. I would couch my counsel to you, 
brethren, on this subject, in the words of Michael to 



" QUIT YOU LIKE MEN." 233 

Adam : " Nor love, nor hate thy life ; but what thou 
livest live well." 

It was not the Spirit of God, nor yet an angel, but 
the devil who said a man would give all he had for 
his life ; and this, like the other assertions of its 
author, is a lie and a slander on humanity. 

Let us, now, take a glance (for we can do no more) 
at the times we live in, and see if there is not enough 
in them to call into vigorous exercise every energy 
and manly attribute of our natures. 

In many respects our age is an extraordinary and 
exciting one. Change follows change in quick suc- 
cession. Event treads on the heels of event. The 
wires quiver beneath the magnitude of their messages. 
In nothing, either, is the age more extraordinary than 
in " its uncommon combinations of men and affairs," 
The bankrupt vagabond of '48 is the adored idol of 
'55. Two nations that have been implacable enemies, 
from time almost immemorial, are allies in the Crimean 
campaign. The guns that thundered defiance and 
destruction against each other at Waterloo are now 
turned in common cause against Sevastopol. The 
author of atrocities which a few years ago shocked 
civilization to its centre, and at which England stood 
aghast with horror, is the lately promoted and highly 
applauded Commander-in-Chief of the French forces 
in the Crimea. 

Special and astonishing providences, too, are every- 
where observable. He who is insensible of them must 
shut his eyes and stop his ears. Amidst the most 
exciting scenes Europe has been witness of for ages, 
the Czar — the prominent actor in the terrible drama — 
is suddenly cut down. But yesterday he " was rejoic- 



234 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

ing in the rapture of the strife, and like a chariot 
wheel catching fire as he went." To-night Nicholas 
sleeps alongside of his fathers. The Emperor and 
usurper of France is taking an evening ride through 
the streets of Paris. A resolute man, but a few paces 
from him, levels a pistol at his breast and fires twice. 
Napoleon's career is not yet accomplished, and till 
then he is immortal. The same hand that preserved 
the young George Washington from the seventeen 
balls of the savage marksman on Braddock's field 
preserved Louis Napoleon from the two balls of the 
assassin Pianori. It is consoling to be assured, by 
such special interpositions of Providence as these, that 
amidst all the din and clash of current events the 
Lord God Omnipotent reigneth. There is not a 
manoeuvre performed by Menshikoff, Raglan, or 
Pelissier, but the evolutions are inspected by the eye, 
and directed by the hand, of the Lord of Hosts. 
There is not a battery or bastion projected by Tod- 
leben but had its design from eternity in the^mind of 
the Architect of the universe. There is not a ball or 
a shell thrown from or against Sevastopol but is 
guided by the same hand that guided the arrow shot 
at a venture — through the joints of the harness and to 
the vitals of Ahab. There is not an event occurs— 
jagged and rough-hewn though it seem to us — but 
will fall with perfect adjustment into its appropriate 
place in God's plan and purpose. But I am digress- 
ing. I return to ask what all these things mean ? Or, 
" are they without a mission or a meaning ? " No ! 
They are portentously significant. They are the 
handwriting of God in the presence chamber of all 
nations. I do not pretend or presume to interpret 



" QUIT YOU LIKE MEN." 235 

these mysterious characters, in which the signs of the 
times are written. I do not say, I do not believe, 
that passing events will usher in the millennium ; but 
it certainly requires a considerable degree of apathy 
and indifference not to feel that we are hurrying on 
to some important period in human history. An ava- 
lanche of events is manifestly precipitating us into 
some astonishing crisis or catastrophe. Presentiments 
are said to be prophecies. If this is true, the public 
mind at present is one vast volume of unwritten proph- 
ecy. From the old gray-headed man to the gay 
and giddy school-girl, there is in the minds of all a 
presentiment of something momentous impending. 
Dr. Cumming, supposing that the earthquake spoken 
of in the Apocalypse under the seventh vial is to 
be literally fulfilled, says he is every day expecting 
to hear the rending of the earth's crust and the 
outburst of its subterranean, long pent up elements. 
To say nothing, my friends, of a physical earthquake ; 
the world, by its premonitory sighings and tremblings, 
gives signs of an approaching moral convulsion that 
will send a thousand tottering systems reeling to 
their downfall and destruction. The Crescent is wan- 
ing to inevitable extinction. The river Euphrates — 
the emblem of the Moslem power — is rapidly drying 
up. And while the Koran is destined soon to become 
an obsolete and unread book, a steamship is now in 
readiness to carry a million Testaments and half as 
many Bibles to China. Paganism is slowly but surely 
dying out. So weak and unpopular is Popery at 
home, that the papal chair has to be propped up with 
French bayonets. China is surging in a revolution. 
u Uneasy lies every head that wears a crown " to-night, 



2$6 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

Daniel gives it as a feature of the times of the end 
that many shall run to and fro and knowledge be in- 
creased. To be satisfied that we occupy this very 
point of prophecy, let anyone stand for an hour on 
one of our wharfs, or at a railroad station. Over the 
iron net-work that covers the earth, up and down our 
rivers, and across our oceans, thousands pass and 
repass — to Kansas, California, and Australia — as in- 
cessantly as the running to and fro in an ant-hill. 
And is not knowledge increased ? Is it not increasing 
with almost incredible rapidity ? The best kind of 
knowledge, too. At the beginning of this century 
there were not more than five millions of Bibles in the 
world. Since that time the Foreign Bible Society 
itself has sent out thirty millions, and private enter- 
prise perhaps twice that number. Astronomers are 
exploring immensity in search of new worlds, and find- 
ing them. Men go to the ends and the depths of the 
earth — to the North Pole, and into the tomb of buried 
cities — in search of knowledge ; nor is their search in 
vain. Science and skill have despoiled disease of 
more than half its terrors ; and, indeed, in every 
department the very palpableness of the truth that 
knowledge is increased has quite taken away its force. 
Society, brethren, is on the advance, and he who in his 
sympathies and feelings does not keep pace with it is 
not fulfilling his mission as a man. He who will not 
voluntarily keep up with the eager throng, will either 
be carried along with it, nolens volens, or trampled 
down and left in the dust where he ought to be. 

But the name and object of your society direct 
our inquiries more particularly to the religious com- 
plexion of the times. 



" QUIT YOU LIKE MEN." 237 

To imagine that the struggles in the cause of truth 
are over is Utopian. Just now a reckless infidelity, 
supported by an insinuating system of error, is de- 
ploying into the field ; a force more formidable per- 
haps than Christianity ever faced before. It will be 
well for the Church, and well for the world, if there be 
found men adequate to the crisis. 

The history of the next fifty years will, without 
doubt, form a thrilling chapter in the annals of the 
world and be read with avidity till time shall be no 
longer. This is an age of mammoth enterprises ; so, 
too, it is destined to be an age of Titanic strifes. The 
enemies of our Christianity must be met in serried 
columns and single combat. Infidelity will have to 
be counteracted in the daily print and in the gilded 
quarto, in the court and in the coal-pit. 

Few men attain so impious a temerity as to deny 
altogether the Divine Existence. The atheist has 
always been considered a moral monster. The 
Athenians drove him from their city. Atheism is the 
Ultima Thule of unbelief ; yet it is not at all unlikely 
that before long the restless heavings of humanity 
will turn up some more daring system than the world 
has ever yet seen. But if out and out atheists and 
atheism are rare, we have enough of both in disguise. 
A system that degrades God to a mere process of 
thought, and makes Christ a creation of the Church, 
rather than the Founder and Redeemer of it, is cer- 
tainly not many removes from the sheerest atheism. 
Now, rationalism does this, and even more. It anni- 
hilates a historical Christianity, and resolves the 
simple but sublime life of Christ into a gorgeous 
myth. The cradle of the Reformation is filled with 



238 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

the nestlings of scepticism, and it will require a work 
little less arduous than cleansing the Augean stables 
to purge Germany. 

Driven from one point the enemies of Christianity 
retreat, only to intrench themselves in another. De- 
feated on one field, they fly as decently as they can to 
the next. This shifting process has been going on 
for ages, and from present appearances will continue 
for a long time to come. Half a century ago the dis- 
tinctive doctrines of Christianity had to be defended 
on the ground of Biblical criticism. On this field 
our foes were fairly vanquished. The most heartless 
and ruthless criticism could not expunge from the 
Bible the doctrines of the Trinity, the Incarnation, the 
Atonement and spiritual Regeneration. It is not now 
denied that these doctrines are found in the Bible, or 
that miracles are recorded in the Gospels, but then 
these are all resolved into myths, fictions, and philo- 
sophical figments. Hume said miracles were incredi- 
ble, but Strauss and his compeers have gone in 
advance of him, and pronounced them impossible. 
The contest must now be in behalf of a historical 
Christianity. 

The young advocate of Christianity must expect to 
encounter infidelity in all its phases, from the boldest 
atheism down to the most diluted form that it assumes 
as it floats through the yellow literature of the day. 
Proteus was distinguished for his shapes — Rumor for 
her tongues — Error has its complement of both. It 
assumes the form of an angel of light, and talks in 
glowing language of the Gospel, but with a kiss be- 
trays it into the hands of its crucifiers. Subtle and 
adroit as the serpent, it flatters the pride of the human 



" QUIT YOU LIKE MEN." 239 

heart ; or, as the " toad squat " at the ear of the sleep- 
ing Eve, appeals to the worst passions of our poor 
fallen nature. 

Pantheism, that makes the worm an incarnation of 
Deity ; rationalism, that ignores Providence, resolves 
inspiration into genius, and makes prayer preposter- 
ous ; spiritualism, that ''surrenders Christianity into 
the power of mere sentiment " ; indifferentism, that 
" makes a man no more responsible for his belief 
than he is for the hue of his skin or the height of his 
stature," and a stolid formalism, that reduces a vital 
and vigorous Christianity to a haggard skeleton of 
ceremonies — these, these are thy enemies, oh, Church ! 

" Heresies," it has been said, " are like the river Are- 
thusa, though they lose their current in one place they 
rise up again in another." Our day is pre-eminently 
distinguished for the revival of old errors, for the resur- 
rection of dead and decomposed systems. These 
carcasses are raised from the tomb to which they 
were long ago consigned, dressed up in modern cos- 
tume, and exhibited to the public, with a Barnum 
amount of impudence and assurance. Pantheism, in 
all its poetic and attractive attire, is paraded as a new 
creation, just sprung from the brain of some transcen- 
dentalist ; but long, long ago, the sages of India 
taught substantially the same system. There were, 
no doubt, pantheistic antediluvians. There were pan- 
theists, at any rate, in Japan ages before Spinoza was 
born. That the Egyptians were pantheists might be in- 
ferred from their worshipping beasts. That they were 
such the monuments of the country fully demonstrate. 
From Egypt pantheism migrated to Greece, and 
thence to Rome ; is now revived in Germany, and 



240 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

transported to America, by such men as Emerson. 
Carlyle's hero worship is only a revival of ancient 
apotheosis. Rationalism is but another name for Epi- 
cureanism. Justin Martyr says the philosophers of 
his day thought it useless to pray to God, since all 
things recur according to the unchangeable laws of an 
endless progression. The positivist of this day 
harps upon the same string precisely. Spirit rappings 
are only the loosened tongue of Delphi's dumb- 
struck oracle. And so I might go on. Now to ex- 
pose the origin of these errors is a very effectual way 
of arresting their progress. It is humiliating for men 
who plume themselves before the public as the legiti- 
mate proprietors of some patented system to be shown 
to be mere hucksters of the wares of other men. It 
is not pusillanimous, to say the least of it, thus to ex- 
pose these unmanly moderns, who pilfer their errors 
from ancients and palm them off as original. 

Roman Catholicism — the Antichrist, and arch 
enemy of Christianity — must very much occupy the 
attention of every Protestant American for years to 
come. After the Congress at St. Peter's last winter, 
and the new impetus imparted to Jesuitical intrigue 
by the deification and coronation of the Virgin, it will 
require the vigilance of an Argus to watch our 
liberties aud our institutions. That man will not 
have lived in vain who shall loosen a single prop 
that supports this consolidated structure of supersti- 
tion and sin, whose shadows darken our land like the 
locusts of Egypt. All compromise and conciliation 
here are traitorous to the truth. The attack of allied 
Protestantism against Rome should be as steady and 
unhesitating as the tread of the " noble six hundred," 



" QUIT YOU LIKE MEN." 241 

last winter, down the valley of Balaklava. We are 
now in the heat of the struggle with the emissaries of 
Antichrist, and that man is a coward and a miscreant 
that cries hold ! 

There is enough to be done in our day to engage 
a thousand hearts and employ a thousand hands, 
if a man had them. For Heaven and humanity's 
sake, brethren, stand not in or around the vineyard 
idle and dreaming. " The age of apathy is gone " — 
gone, it is to be hoped, never to return. Men are in 
earnest now in all they do. " Whether it be the 
manufacturing of a pin or the enlightening of a 
soul," they enter into it in right good earnest. If 
ever there was a time since the creation-shout of the 
sons of God went up, that called for " no vulgar con- 
ception of things and for exertions in no vulgar strain, 
it is the awful hour in which Providence has appointed 
our being." 

It has been my privilege and pleasure, too, to be 
intimately and favorably acquainted with nearly all of 
you. I have no fears — I am sure no fears are enter- 
tained — as to your being able to acquit you honorably 
as men. The danger is that, by narrow and unjust 
ideas of your mission, you will wrap yourselves up in 
some secluded and contracted sphere, and sleep your 
lives away in a chrysalis state. Entertain, I implore 
you, some worthy conception of yourselves and your 
influence. Be not content to fulfil in society the 
office of a candle in a chamber — to light up a little 
circle, or a fireside — but aspire, oh, yes ! aspire to the 
sphere and functions of a sun, to spread light and 
fertility over a hemisphere. There is no topic to 
which I advert more cheerfully, or dwell upon with 



242 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

more zest, than that of individual influence. It makes 
a man feel better, makes him prouder of his species, 
to think of what individuals (humble ones, too) have 
done, and of what they may still do. It reconciles one 
very much to the labors, hazards, and hardships of 
this hard, hard life. Samuel Mills said he would 
make his influence felt by half the globe. He "died at 
the age of thirty-six, but accomplished all he said he 
would. We may, and often are, indeed, doing most 
when we suspect we are doing the least ; when, so far 
as we ourselves can discern, we are doing nothing at 
all. The skipping of a grasshopper moves the world ; 
but who perceives it ? There is no cause for de- 
spondency, either. Though the enemies of the truth 
are busy and bitter, and though there are some 
things that appear ominous of evil, upon the whole, 
our day is brighter and better than any that has come 
and gone before it. Our knowledge of the issue 
should nerve our arms with steel, and fill our hearts 
with fire. Final success is sure. Voltaire, the daring 
anti-theist, swore he would dethrone God, and blas- 
phemously boasted that he would erase the name of 
Christ from the earth ; yet, " in every tongue on earth 
the Gospel has its music and glad echo " to-night. 
Anti-theists and atheists together — skeptics and 
scoffers, alike — are doomed to an inevitable and ter- 
rible overthrow. Every system and individual that 
opposes the cross will fall, and in that fall, like the 
Apostate Julian, as he threw his life-blood toward 
heaven, ascribe conquest to the Galilean. 

At the battle of the Pyramids, as Napoleon threw 
his infantry into squares to sustain the impetuous 
charge of Murad Bey's cavalry, in order to arouse 



" QUIT YOU LIKE MEN." 243 

their heroism he shouted to his soldiers as they fell 
into their places : " From yonder Pyramids twenty 
centuries look down upon your actions ! " From 
yonder heavens, my brethren, " ten thousand times 
ten thousand and thousands of thousands" — look 
down upon your actions. 

Just as this same hero had made his dispositions for 
another great and decisive battle, his eye caught the 
sun, as he rose in his strength and grandeur — 
" Behold the sun of Austerlitz ! " broke in beauty and 
sublimity from his lips. Lifting our eyes away to 
China, Japan, and the Isles of the Sea, we can give 
utterance to the sublimer expression, Behold the 
"Sun of Righteousness " ! 

Everything, indeed, invites you to active, decided, 
manly effort. Where you can find nothing to encour- 
age, you can always find something to excite you. 

And now, brethren, in view of the past, the present, 
and the future ; for the sake of the dead, the living, 
and the unborn, I charge you, this night — wherever 
you go, whatever you do, whatever you be — in the 
name and in the presence of God Almighty, I charge 
you, " Quit yourselves like men." 



III. 

HOPE FOR THE REPUBLIC, 



III. 

HOPE FOR THE REPUBLIC* 

"Look upon Zion, the city of our solemnities : thine eyes shall 
see Jerusalem a quiet habitation , a tabernacle that shall not be 
taken down ; not one of the stakes thereof shall ever be removed, 
neither shall any of the cords thereof be broken. 

"But there the glorious Lord will be unto us a place of broad 
rivers and streams; wherein shall go no galley with oars, neither 
shall gallant ship pass thereby." — ISAIAH xxxiii. 20, 21. 

These words were spoken of the Jewish nation 
when it was threatened with dismemberment and de- 
struction by Sennacherib, the Assyrian. They seem 
to be singularly applicable to our own case as a 
nation. 

My political creed is very brief : / believe in the 
union of these States. 

Shall this Union be preserved or shall it be rudely 
torn to fragments and the fragments thrown to the 
dust ? This is beyond all comparison the most 
momentous political question that agitates the public 
mind at this time. In the presence of this, all others 
sink into insignificance. If the Union be preserved, 
the text will receive a second glorious fulfilment. 

What reason, then, have we to hope that this will 
be the result of the pending struggle ? 

* Thanksgiving Day, November 26, 1863. Repeated for the 
benefit of the Christian Commission, in Masonic Hall, Pittsburgh, 
Tuesday night, December 8, 1863. 

2<<7 



248 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

I believe in the perpetuity of the Union because : 

I. We are one by the physical structure and consti- 
tution of the country. 

By the flat of creation the Almighty has ordained 
that this nation be one. He has poured the floods of 
ocean around it in the form of a U, and that U stands 
for UNION. Through and through these States He 
has driven the iron bolts of mountain ranges. From 
north to south He has stretched the throbbing arte- 
ries of the nation's life ; and from east to west He 
has spread the tissue and net-work of the nation's 
blood-vessels. So long as the waters of the Missis- 
sippi flow to the Gulf the Union of these States must 
be preserved, at all hazards, at any cost, at all sacrifices. 
By virtue, therefore, of our national life and by the 
physical geography of the country, we are one. 

Man, in his physical structure and constitution, is 
scarcely less a unit than this land is a unit. The head 
cannot do without the heart, nor the heart without 
the head. One member is the complement of the 
other, and it is only when all unite harmoniously that 
the body is complete, strong, and healthy. 

So it is with this country. Sever it, disunite it, 
dismember it, and it becomes a heap of incomplete 
fragments. 

Disjointed wheels, lying apart, do not constitute a 
watch. They may be complete and perfect in them- 
selves ; but scattered over a table they will not keep 
time. From mainspring to pointer, everything may 
be in perfect order, but these disunited fractions do 
not, cannot mark the passing hours. In order to do 
this there must be union. Wheel must act upon wheel, 
cog must fit to cog, the chain must be stretched, the 



HOPE FOR THE REPUBLIC. 249 

spring must be bent ; there must be action, re-action, 
inter-action, and counter-action. Then the hands 
move, then it keeps time, then it is a watch. 

Like the members of the body, like the wheels of a 
time-piece, the States and Territories of this country 
are parts of one great whole. The South supplements 
the North, the North supplements the South, and the 
West is the complement of both. 

The old world may shut up our ports ; we can laugh 
a blockade to scorn. 

We have within ourselves all necessary supplies and 
resources. 

Let any man take the map and examine it for five 
minutes, and he will be convinced, beyond the power 
of logic, that the Almighty Maker of the world in- 
tended this land for one great people. The decree 
has gone forth ; it is proclaimed aloud and afar by 
the voice of the mountain storm ; it is thundered 
forth by the floods of the Atlantic ; it is echoed back 
by the billows of the Pacific ; it is carried by the Ohio 
to the Mississippi, and the Mississippi rolls it on in 
thunder tones to the Gulf. 

The decree has gone forth. It is written in char- 
acters as enduring as the everlasting hills. The 
letters are traced in ocean-beds, in river-courses, and 
mountain-ranges. It has thus been written and pro- 
mulged. Who will believe that a few mad-cap des- 
pots at Charleston and Montgomery can repeal it — 
can annul it ? 

The glorious tabernacle of our liberties shall riot 
thus be torn down. " Not one of the stakes thereof 
shall ever be removed ; neither shall any of the 
cords thereof be broken." 



250 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

If this generation shall be so dastardly and derelict 
to duty as to permit the dismemberment of the nation, 
the next generation will rise in its might and its 
wrath, will dash to atoms every obstacle interposed 
between the different sections, will gather up again 
the dishonored fragments, and with the richest blood 
of the age cement them into one. 

But I do not believe that this generation will leave 
to the next so glorious a consummation. 

Great Britain was never designed by the Almighty 
for a heptarchy, nor France for a partitioned king- 
dom. The physical structure of these countries 
demonstrates this. Great Britain and France were 
insignificant powers until their disintegrated frag- 
ments came together, were welded into one, and they 
stood before the world consolidated kingdoms. 
Their union was the beginning of their strength and 
glory. Our dismemberment would be the end of our 
greatness and power. All over " the dishonored 
fragments of this once glorious Union, " would then 
be written in hideous characters: " Ichabod ! Ichabod ! 
the glory is departed ! " 

I believe in the perpetuity of the Union, because : 

II. The people of this nation are one. 

Not, indeed, in speech, nor descent, nor taste, nor 
temperament, nor habits, nor customs. In these 
respects we are exceedingly diverse. We are, in these 
respects as varied as Jacob's ring-streaked, speckled, 
and spotted kine. 

But, nevertheless, we are one by a far deeper and 
mightier principle of unity. 

A common impulse peopled these shores when they 
were an unbroken, howling wilderness. A common 



HOPE FOR THE REPUBLIC. 25 1 

sympathy brought the colonists to this land. The 
Huguenots, the Puritans, the Dutch from Holland, 
the Scotch-Irish from Londonderry, had a common 
interest, common sufferings, a common hope, and they 
sought and found here a common home. Persecution 
and oppression drove them from their own lands. 
They left all, they sacrificed all but liberty. On these 
shores they sought and found a common asylum. 
They came from different countries, they spake dif- 
ferent languages, their customs were widely different, 
but their hearts, notwithstanding, beat in unison on 
the subject of human rights and religious liberty. 
By virtue of this deep and tender sympathy they were, 
and their descendants are, one. 

The fact that so many noble, self-sacrificing men 
of different countries, yet bound together by so 
powerful a bond of union, were thrown on these 
shores at the same time, is one of the grandest provi- 
dential phenomena in human history. God's hand 
was in it. Political storms shook Europe. The tor- 
nado was wild and fierce. The ripened, mellow fruit 
was loosened from the branches. It fell — at Plymouth 
Rock and Manhattan Island. The green, the gnarled, 
the blighted fruit hung on, clung to the branches. 

God sifted the nations of Europe ; the finest of the 
wheat was sown in American soil. The chaff, the 
cheat, the cockle, and the tares were left on the other 
side of the ocean. 

All through our history this unity of principle and 
sympathy is manifest. While apparently we are the 
most heterogeneous people in the world, we are really, 
on the great and vital points, the most homogeneous. 
The diversities among us seem to be endless ; but 



252 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

touch any of the wide-spreading chords of sympathy 
that unite us, and a response in perfect unison peals 
forth. How, for instance, the cannon-shot that 
snapped the flag-staff of Sumter brought the whole 
North together as one man, shoulder to shoulder, 
hand in hand, heart to heart ! 

There was the grand mistake made by the con- 
spirators. They did not take this fact into account. 
They saw the North divided and wrangling about 
minor issues. They supposed that their overt treason 
would rend these parties hopelessly asunder, and set 
us to cutting each other's throats. Their view was 
superficial ; they did not look deep enough ; they did 
not go down to those deep-toned chords — far below 
the casual and superficial view— which stretch from 
heart to heart, and make a continent of freemen one. 

Trees in the forest grow apart ; their branches 
chafe and fret each other ; they quarrel and wrestle ; 
every blast brings them into violent contact and col- 
lision ; but down out of sight, below the surface, their 
roots interlink and intertwine in the most intimate 
and inseparable sympathy and fellowship. So it is 
with us. At wide variance on a thousand minor 
issues, we are as one on the great root principles. 
Below the surface our sympathies intertwine. 

That this is the fact the history of the rebellion 
demonstrates. No other government on earth could 
stand such a shock as ours has stood. Its strength, 
its bulwarks are in the hearts of the people. True, 
we have lamentable dissensions, but the wonder is 
that every State has not been rent with internecine 
war. 

How grandly the old ship rights herself and climbs 



HOPE FOR THE REPUBLIC. 253 

the waves ! She is no " painted ship upon a painted 
ocean." She has not only the form but the power. 
Her timbers are sound, every one of them ; she is sea- 
worthy if ever ship was ; stick to her — she will ride 
the storm. 

The South, it is true, listening to the counsels of 
her Catilines, has been precipitated into revolution ; 
but even in these rebellious States, if the hearts of the 
people could be reached, these chords of universal 
sympathy would be touched and would respond. Al- 
ready they begin to vibrate in North Carolina, Texas, 
and Tennessee. 

This rebellion, therefore, is not a natural out- 
growth of our national life. It is not American. It 
is a vile fungus on the body politic. It comes from 
disease — disease brought on by the poison of slavery 
that in an evil hour was injected into the national 
blood. Slavery is an unnatural element. This land 
was not peopled that it might become a prison-house 
in which human beings should grind in servitude, but 
that it might be an asylum for the down-trodden and 
oppressed the world over. The government was not 
founded for slavery. The constitution was not made 
for it. It is an unnatural element that has been 
foisted into our political system. It gained its im- 
portance through the power of filthy lucre. It was 
conceded on all hands to be wrong, until it became 
profitable. If it ever had any claim to sympathy 
or protection, it has lost every shadow of it by the 
rebellion. 

The consequence of this poisonous foreign element 
in the system has been fever, delirium, and this foul 
boil and tumor on the body. It no more comes from 



254 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

the natural, healthy American life, than small-pox or 
leprosy comes from the pure blood that God poured 
into the veins of Adam when he became a living soul. 
It is a disgusting fungus, a loathsome excrescence 
that has been produced by a virulent poison intro- 
duced into the system. 

But it will not be fatal. There is vigor enough in 
the system to purify itself — to fling off the disease as 
the ocean billow tosses the feathery spray from its 
crest. Besides, skillful surgeons are at work on it. 
They will cut the vile excrescence away. Grant has 
just made a terrible incision. 

The rebellion is only a fitful, unnatural exhibition 
of disease. This will be thrown off. Health will be 
restored and not even a scar left. Then from the 
Lakes to the Gulf, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific 
the life-blood of the nation will flow again, pure and 
free, and as true to the Union as is the pulse-beat of a 
healthy man to his heart. 

The overwhelming sentiment of the people is : The 
Union, it must and shall be preserved. 

We could not have this sentiment unless there was 
something for it to rest upon. That basis is the fact 
already mentioned, viz.: That on all the great root 
principles that underlie republican institutions, the 
people are one. Feeling thus, and bound together by 
sympathies so deep and comprehensive and wide- 
spreading and far-reaching, they will not allow a few 
— a despicable minority of despots — to overthrow these 
institutions. 

They will keep the starry banner aloft and afloat. 
They will not let the tabernacle be torn down. They 
will fix every stake firmly in its place. They will see 



HOPE FOR THE REPUBLIC. 255 

to it that not a single strand of a single cord be 
broken. 

I believe in the perpetuity of the Union and govern- 
ment because : 

III. This perpetuity will be conducive to freedom 
and human progress. 

This proposition can be doubted only by one who is 
totally blinded by prejudice or who is utterly ignorant 
of the issues involved. The rebels do not doubt it. 
They fight with this understanding. They want 
neither freedom nor general intelligence. Slavery 
and the general diffusion of knowledge cannot dwell 
together. Slavery dreads the spirit of the North 
quite as much or even more than it dreads the bayo- 
nets and columbiads of the North. The South at- 
tempts to found a mighty empire, the " corner stone " 
of which is Human Bondage. The North inscribes 
Universal Freedom on her banner, and flings it to 
the breeze. While He who came into this world " to 
proclaim liberty to the captives " sits on the throne 
of the universe, who can for one moment doubt the 
issue ? 

There never was a contest more clearly and sharply 
defined. The struggle is between liberty and oppres- 
sion ; between democracy and aristocracy ; between 
republicanism and tyranny. If the Southern Con- 
federacy, with its present constitution, succeed, back 
goes the sun on the world's dial twelve degrees. 
Shall this be? 

Ever since Christianity entered as a factor into 
human history, ever since she taught the true dignity 
and worth of man, liberal ideas have been gaining 
ground. True, there have been long and dismal 



256 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

nights of gloom , but, on the whole, freedom has been 
on the advance. 

Every man is now considered worth educating. 
No life is so mean that it is not worth caring for. 
We are too often disposed to croak, to think and 
sometimes to say that we are going backward ; but 
our civilization, with all its faults, is vastly in advance 
of Greece and Rome, where the people went in 
crowds for entertainment to the amphitheatre, which 
flowed ankle-deep in human blood. The world does 
move, has moved, is moving. Our croaking can no 
more stop it than the Papal Bull could stop the 
sweeping comet in its fiery course. 

When we are in a railroad car it seems to us the 
trees and fences, houses and fields are all flying, 
whirling backward. They seem to go backward be- 
cause we are going so rapidly forward. So we some- 
times think that the world is going backward because 
we are going with such velocity forward. 

Man used to be held cheap ; his price has greatly 
advanced and is still going up. Christianity, educa- 
tion, general intelligence and free institutions have 
wrought the change. They put man's value up and 
keep it buoyant : and all the emissaries Satan can 
hire, in the shape of kidnapper, or slave-trader, or 
slavery propagandist, cannot bring about a depression. 
In the price current of the world, humanity has gone 
up to a high figure, and it will go much higher yet. 

We hear much, indeed, of the low value set upon 
human life. This is a lamentable evil ; but it is felt 
keenly now, not because it is greater than formerly, 
but because our appreciation of human life is better. 

In Rome — refined, elegant Rome — men by the thou- 



HOPE FOR THE REPUBLIC. 257 

sand were turned into the amphitheatre along with 
wild beasts to die, that by their expiring agonies they 
might cater to the morbid taste and curiosity of Latin 
ladies and their dissolute lovers. Would our civiliza- 
tion tolerate such exhibitions now ? 

In the Dark Ages, if a man dared to think for him- 
self, he was consigned to the dungeons and the racks 
of the Inquisition. That was the last heard of him. 
What matter ! It was only a heretic ! The Inquisi- 
tion could not live twenty-four hours in America. 

In England they used to hang a man for stealing a 
sheep. It was on the principle, I suppose, of a life 
for a life ; and they put the sheep's life on a par with 
the man's life. 

Frederick the Great regarded a man as worthless 
unless he was six feet high and built in proportion, 
that he might stand on a level in the ranks of his 
gigantic grenadiers. " Military offences," says Ma- 
caulay, " were punished with such barbarous scourg- 
ing that to be shot was considered by the Prussian 
soldier a secondary punishment." By Frederick 
man was valued as a fighting machine. 

But now humanity is valued for its inherent worth 
and dignity. A man is not estimated on account of 
his wealth or his rank, but on account of God's image 
which he bears, and the God-given endowments he pos- 
sesses. The value yet is far too low, but it is much 
higher than ever it was before. Every hospital, every 
asylum, home, and refuge bears testimony to the same 
fact. Thus Christianity and intelligence are elevat- 
ing men — bringing them up from the depths and mak- 
ing each man a sovereign. No slavery, no system 
of oppression ever instituted can resist this uplifting, 



258 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

on-moving force, but will die under it as certainly as 
the snowflake and icicle melt in the spring. 

Already this force has emancipated England's 
slaves, and has struck the shackles from the limbs of 
Russia's serfs. 

When Christianity was introduced into the world, 
slavery was universal. The number of slaves was 
prodigious. Some Roman citizens owned as many as 
twenty thousand at once. This was slavery, too, in 
its most revolting and horrid form. A slave's life 
was held cheaper than a dog's life. Under the silent 
but mighty influence of Christianity, the system began 
to die out, and under that influence the decline has 
been gradually going on ever since. The charge 
that Christianity has favored slavery is not true. 
Did time permit, I could show how Christianity has 
abolished slavery. Let Christianity, a free press, and 
free speech have a fair field, and there will be no 
slave in America in fifty years. This the slaveholders 
very well know. 

Now I ask, if these ideas, if this upward and onward 
movement that has been gaining strength for nearly 
nineteen centuries, are to be arrested and turned back 
by a nest of conspirators hatched at Charleston ? As 
soon would I believe that the bickerings of a brood of 
swallows on the eaves of a barn could stop the sun in 
the heavens. The conspirators may embarrass and 
check the movement somewhat for a time, but that 
they will succeed in turning back the mighty current 
of popular thought and feeling, I can no more believe 
than I can believe that the snowy arm of the Alpine 
maiden can stop the avalanche in its leap and its bound 
from its mountain home. 



HOPE FOR THE REPUBLIC. 259 

The chariot moves ; God is the charioteer. Clear 
the track ! Woe to the man who stands in the way ! 
He will be ground to powder, and all of him that will 
go down to posterity will be his dust and the immor- 
tality of his infamy. 

IV. The past history, the present and the future 
prospects of the war, afford a good assurance that the 
tabernacle of our liberties shall not be taken down. 

All things considered, our success has been amaz- 
ing. President Lincoln expressed a great truth in 
homely phrase, when he said that the suppression of 
the rebellion was "a big job." It is not the work of 
a day nor a year. We must not be impatient. We 
have had great success ; no rebel pitches his tent on 
free soil to-day. With Gettysburg before his eyes, 
the enemy will not try invasion soon again. Not only 
have we defended our immense border, but our armies 
are in the heart of the Confederacy. Suppose the 
tables were turned, and that the enemy had driven us 
as far back as we have forced him, the faint-hearted 
among us would begin to think of taking refuge in 
Canada. 

The interpositions of Providence in our behalf have 
been wonderful. None but a downright atheist can 
doubt them. When the traitors had the power com- 
pletely in their own hands, why did they not stab the 
republic to the heart ? They attempted it ; the hand 
was raised but the blow was arrested, no one knows 
how. The historian who leaves special providences 
out of his account, will never write correctly the 
history of the momentous weeks which closed the last 
Administration. Providentially the President was 
delivered from the assassins of Baltimore. General 



260 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

Anderson told me that when he and his little band 
passed from Moultrie to Sumter, the shadows of the 
night fell in such a way as to conceal them entirely 
from the view of the rebels. They passed undis- 
covered, although they were narrowly watched. The 
Monitor arrived just at the nick of time to meet the 
Merrimac and drive her back to her rebel den. Buell 
arrived at Shiloh in time to turn the fortunes of the 
day ; he w T as to Grant what Blucher was to Welling- 
ton. All through the struggle such providences are 
observable. 

In this connection the prosperity of the North 
ought to be mentioned. This has been contrary to 
all the predictions of enemies, and contrary, indeed, 
to the most sanguine hopes of friends. According to 
the traitors, cows were to graze in Broadway and 
Chestnut Street three months after the war began. 
Pittsburgh was to be as still as a cemetery. There 
was to be nothing in the North but bankruptcy and 
bread riots ; yet never was there such prosperity. 

This, by some, may be attributed to second causes, 
but these second causes would be utterly inefficient if 
they were not directed and controlled by the great 
First Cause. 

This prosperity, amidst so gigantic an intestine war, 
is a fact unparalleled in history. Nor has it been with- 
out its effect. It has given other nations a concep- 
tion of our resources such as they never had before. 
Europe stands aghast. When the war began, she 
locked her coffers, put a hard knot on her purse- 
strings, turned up her supercilious nose, and said : 
" You can't have my money to carry on the war." 
The war has been carried on without her money, and 



HOPE FOR THE REPUBLIC. 261 

now she begs to have the exquisite pleasure of lend- 
ing us a few millions sterling. It is now Brother 
Jonathan's turn to be supercilious. He coolly thrusts 
his hands into his capacious pockets, and says : u No, 
thankee!" Europe begins to respect our financial 
resources. 

She begins, too, to have a profound respect for our 
army and navy. When Russell, the correspondent of 
the London Times, was in this country he was never 
done threatening us with Admiral Milne's fleet. If 
Mr. Seward did not speak more respectfully of Eng- 
land, the fleet would come down and knock Washing- 
ton about his ears, some morning before he was up. 
If Mason and Slidell were not surrendered forthwith, 
Milne would weigh anchor and drop down along our 
coast, when our blockading fleet would disappear as 
snow in harvest. But now, so far as Great Britain is 
concerned, we should not know that such an institu- 
tion as Milne's squadron existed on the face of the 
earth. 

Suppose this terrible fleet should weigh anchor, who 
is so poor as to do it reverence ? We would send out 
a little iron-clad after the whole batch as a farmer 
calls out his little terrier and sets him on a flock of 
sheep in his lane. 

It is this development of power that has modified 
the course of Great Britain toward us. In strength 
is our safety, If we show the white feather every 
jackdaw will begin to peck at us ; every second-rate 
cock on the European dunghill will begin to strut 
and crow and whet his spurs. Europe must be taught 
to let us alone. 

I detest Russia ; from the depths of my heart I 



262 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

sympathize with Poland. Yet, notwithstanding, if 
England and France conspire against us, I would 
strike hands with the Czar, as a diplomatic measure. 
I would fraternize with, the Polar bear, even, against 
any and all who will make alliances with the Southern 
Confederacy. Rather than yield one jot or tittle of 
the principle involved, viz., the integrity of the 
Union, and the right to manage our own affairs, let 
Europe and the whole world be wrapped in the flames 
of war. On other heads than ours will rest the re- 
sponsibility. 

Not only has our prosperity thus falsified all mali- 
cious predictions and opened the eyes of Europe, but 
it has also dethroned forever cotton as king. The 
king is off his throne, and the throne has gone to 
pieces and to the dust, never again to be set up. 
Cotton is deposed ; Corn and Iron are supreme. 

The past history of the war has accomplished 
another thing: it has vindicated Northern courage 
and manliness. These could not be vindicated under 
the ",code," but they have been gloriously vindicated in 
the line of battle, in the impetuous charge, at the can- 
non's mouth, on parapet and wall. 

When this war began, to hear rebels talk one 
would have supposed that every man in the Con- 
federacy would have gone to the bottom of the last 
ditch rather than strike a single color ; rather than 
relinquish a single gun ; rather than surrender a 
single prisoner of war. Yet the Confederate flag has 
gone to the dust eleven times at the bidding of the 
Stars and Stripes. One man alone has taken from 
them 472 guns, and has captured of their soldiers 
90,000 prisoners of war. I need not tell you who 



HOPE FOR THE REPUBLIC. 263 

that man is, for I am sure that already, in your hearts 
at least, if riot on your lips, is the name of Uncon- 
ditional Surrender Grant. 

The most bigoted Southerner admits now that 

Yankees will fight. Donelson, Vicksburg, Antietam, 

J Gettysburg, Lookout Mountain, Missionary Ridge 

are ugly facts to reconcile with the theory that there 

is nothing but poltroonery in the North. 

Greater heroism has not been displayed since the 
world began than has been displayed by the Northern 
army in the war for the Union. The glory of Sparta 
pales before the splendor of its prowess. This sounds 
like mere fustian, but it is sober truth. At Lookout 
Mountain our men charged the enemy above the 
clouds. Through the clouds and above them they 
swept upward with fiercer impetuosity than the storm 
sweeps downward. They fought with the clouds be- 
neath their feet. The roar of their musketry was 
above the home of the thunder. Who dare say now 
that Northern men will not fight ? 

Thus the two topics which for twenty years have 
supplied the staple of Southern eloquence in Congress, 
and out of it, are exploded. Cotton is not king. 
Northern men are not cowards. What will the sen- 
ators at Richmond find to talk about this winter ? 

From the past, then, we draw encouragement ; and 
while the present is big with interest and fearful 
issues, nevertheless the heavens above us to-day have 
more clear sky than clouds. With Grant, Sherman, 
Thomas, and Foster in Tennessee ; Banks in Texas ; 
Gilmore thundering at the gates of Charleston ; But- 
ler at Fortress Monroe, and Meade on the Rapidan, 
we can, at least, rest in hope. 



264 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

Grant is Lincoln's thunderbolt. He launched it, 
and Vicksburg was smitten to the dust. It is 
launched again — it gleams along Lookout Mountain, 
it scales the crest of Missionary Ridge, and the 
" Bragg " is knocked out of the Confederacy. 

We cannot fathom the Divine purposes, but the 
doings of God in the past shed light on these pur- 
poses. If God has designed that but one nation shall 
inhabit this land, then the Union will be preserved. 

May we not infer such a design from the physical 
structure of the country ? It is a large land, but not 
large enough for two nations to dwell in. God has 
given us " broad rivers and streams," but they are not 
to be ploughed by war-ships, as that is the meaning of 
"galley with oars " and " gallant ship/' in the text. 

The same design may be inferred from the one- 
ness of the people who settled these shores, and from 
the fact that God, in his providence, and in his Word, 
is on the side of the oppressed ; and also from the 
fact that he has been most gracious unto us in the 
gifts of his bounty, and in special interpositions in 
our behalf. 

When the Jew wanted to assure himself of God's 
continued favor and protection, he ran his eye back 
over the historv of his nation, from the overthrow 
of Pharaoh to the destruction of Og, king of Bashan. 
The past was glorious and full of miraculous power. 
Doubt fled. With hope and joy he flung his glance 
into the future. 

So do we to-day. God has not piloted the ship of 
state through so many storms, and over so many 
breakers, to allow her to be sunk by the snag, 
secession. 



HOPE FOR THE REPUBLIC. 265 

Then let the hurricane roar, 
It will the sooner be o'er ; 
We'll weather the blast, 
And we'll land at last, 
Safe on the ever-free shore. 

"Then thine eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet habita- 
tion, a tabernacle that shall not be taken down ; not 
one of the stakes thereof shall ever be removed, 
neither shall any of the cords thereof be broken. 

" But the glorious Lord will be to us a place of broad 
rivers and streams ; wherein shall go no galley with 
oars, neither shall gallant ship pass thereby." 

Faith, patience, endurance, are the requisites of the 
crisis. Great ideas develop slowly. Great sacrifices 
are the price of great blessings. 

Greece rose, fought, struggled, died, and left as her 
legacy to the world heroism of character and beauty 
in language and art. That is the residuum of her 
wonderful history. 

Rome rose, fought, struggled, died, and left to the 
world as her legacy the majesty and supremacy of 
law. May our legacy be republican institutions, 
based on Christian morality and intelligence ! 

Great blessings are to be had only at great expense. 
All the martyrs died for religious liberty. They 
were a mighty host. It was a fearful price, but the 
issue was worth it all. 

The Crusades desolated Europe and Asia, sunk 
untold treasures, and sent millions of men to the 
grave, and after all failed in their object ; but they 
gave the death-blow to feudalism, and in this they 
were worth all they cost. 

Thus the world moves. The commonest rights we 



266 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

enjoy have cost blood enough to fill the channel of 
the Ohio, from bank to bank, with a crimson tide. 

If we expect to enjoy the precious blessings of this 
government, and transmit them unimpaired to our 
children, we must be willing to pay the price. Rivers 
of oil, the cattle upon a thousand hills, are not suffi- 
cient. The best blood of the nation must be given. 

Now it only remains to exhort everyone to be true 
to his country. Be turned aside by no sophistries 
of demagogues. Be warped by no partisan preju- 
dices. Stand straight and firm by the flag-staff from 
the top of which stream the Stars and Stripes. 

When a man sees a ruffian strike his mother in the 
face, it is no time for him to consult Paley on a point 
of morality. God has given him an arm, has poured 
into it the blood of manhood, and so long as one drop 
of that blood remains his duty is clear. 

That patriotism is cold, to say the least, which, after 
it has seen the flag of the Republic torn with rebel 
shot, can sit down to discuss nice metaphysical dis- 
tinctions in constitutional law ; or which, worse still, 
can enter into calculations on the probabilities of the 
success of each party, that it may be certain to be on 
the winning side ; or which, worst of all, balances 
itself with all the skill of Theramenes between the two 
parties. 

Patriotism is instinctive. There is a story told of 
old King Abgarus, who came from the far East, from 
Ur of the Chaldees, whence the patriarch Abraham 
came. He brought wild beasts of various countries 
to Rome, and let them loose in the amphitheatre in the 
presence of Augustus. As soon as they were loose, 
the beasts ran, leaping, bounding, each one to that 



HOPE FOR THE REPUBLIC. 267 

part of the Circus where had been laid a little of 
its native soil, Its heart took it to the spot. 

Man by instinct ought to love his country. A 
patriotism that can with stoical indifference see the 
old flag trampled in the mire by traitorous feet is not 
the kind for these times. Rather give us a manhood 
which, when it sees tender motherhood reeling beneath 
the murderous blow of a ruffian, will spring to its 
feet, and cry : " Villain ! that is my mother, and while 
this heart sends a drop of blood to this right arm I 
will protect and defend her ! " Give us rather a 
patriotism which when it sees perjured, blood-stained 
hands clutching at the flag, to tear Stripe from Stripe, 
and pluck Star from Star, will rush to arms, as a lion 
leaps from his lair, and cry : " Hands off ! ye traitorous 
horde ! Hands off ! while a spark of manhood lives 
that flag will be defended! The last loyal heart will be 
flung between it and violence! Through that heart ye 
will have to strike before ye can touch its sacred folds ! " 

Citizen patriots ! stand by the colors ! through 
good and through evil report — in sunshine and in 
storm — come weal, come woe, stand by the colors ! 
Uplift and uphold the tabernacle of our liberties ! 
Strengthen its stakes, lengthen its cords ! Then when 
you are gone — when Jerusalem is a quiet habitation — 
when every stake has gone down to its place thence 
to be removed nevermore, when every cord has become 
stronger than triple brass ; when on all our broad rivers 
and streams there go nothing but the ships of a peace- 
ful, prosperous commerce, then will your children, 
pride elating their countenances as they speak, rise up 
and say : " My father never moved lip nor finger against 
his country in the hour of her crisis and her trial/' 



IV. 
THE THIEF ON THE CROSS. 






IV. 
THE THIEF ON THE CROSS. 

"And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me, when thou comest 
into thy kingdom. 

" And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To-day shalt 
thou be with me in paradise" — Luke xxiii. 42, 43. 

No passage perhaps in all the Bible reveals more 
vividly the power of the Gospel to save to the utter- 
most than does this one. God's grace descends to 
the very bottom of human degradation and rescues 
the vilest and the lowest. The passage reveals not 
only the depths to which the Gospel goes in order to 
save, but also the heights to which it exalts those it 
thus saves. It gives us the soundings, and at the 
same time the altitude of redemption. It shows to 
us the Gospel thrusting its arms of love to the pro- 
foundest abysses of sin, grappling the most abandoned 
spirit there, and raising it to a citizenship in heaven 
and a companionship with Christ. It also reveals 
very clearly justification by faith. If salvation were 
not all of grace the hope of the best men would go 
out in the darkness of despair. If salvation were not 
thus of grace the hypocrite and Pharisee might hope, 
but the good man never. This little piece of sacred 
history is worth whole libraries on justification by 
faith alone. If men are not justified by faith, but 
by works, the thief would have been in perdition that 
day instead of in Paradise. 

271 



272 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

I invite you, my hearers, to spend this morning 
with me on Calvary. We could not be in a better 
place. 

It is a spring morning. The birds are abroad and 
the flowers are in bloom, but the scene on the top of 
the hill Calvary ill comports with the peace of spring. 
The Son of God is on the cross — under the curse of 
the law — in the company of malefactors and thieves — 
exposed to the gaze and insults of the rabble. The 
hill is covered with his persecutors, who mock and 
taunt him. The executioners have finished their 
task, and have nothing to do but sit down and watch 
their victims. Thus watching they while away the 
time (as time, alas ! is too often whiled away) by 
gambling. There is one piece of the Saviour's 
apparel that is beautiful and valuable. " This coat 
was without seam, woven from the top throughout." 
Tradition says it was a present from his mother. She 
had wrought it with great care, and with a kindness and 
yearning tenderness which none but a mother feels 
she had given it to her Divine Son. For this the 
soldiers were now contesting, unconscious that its 
owner was paying the penalty of their sins. " They 
parted my garments among them and upon my ves- 
ture did they cast lots." While they were thus em- 
ployed, the Scribes and Pharisees reviling, the crowd 
insulting, and one of the thieves reproaching him, the 
dialogue between the Saviour and the other thief took 
place. 

The world is seldom aware of the existence of its 
greatest benefactors, and likewise knows little about, 
or cares little for, the events that conduce most to its 
welfare. France gives birth to a young usurper who 



THE THIEF ON THE CROSS. 273 

is to crush the life out of human liberty, and yet the 
event is heralded from Paris to Cathay ; but when 
the Son of God and Redeemer of the human family 
was born, few in the world were any the wiser for it. 
The event created no excitement in the little village 
of Bethlehem. A warrior dies. His death stanches 
the blood that is streaming from a thousand hearts. 
His death is deplored. The press issues its sheets in 
mourning, bells chime solemnly, and business stands 
awe- struck and still ; but the Son of God, the King of 
kings, the Lord of lords, expires on Calvary, and the 
world knows not that he is suffering the expiation of 
its own guilt. Every event since the Fall pointed to 
that cross — every type and sacrifice was a shadow of 
it — the glory of all the prophecies gathered around 
it, yet the world, as stupid as the gambling execu- 
tioners, was not aware that anything was taking place 
on Calvary more than the crucifixion of a common 
criminal. But this dying thief calls us back to the 
subject. 

In the whole history of the world it would be hard 
to find an instance where in all human probability 
there was so little likelihood of a conversion to Chris- 
tianity as in the instance of this man. He was an 
abandoned and desperate fellow — perhaps a mur- 
derer. He had been judged worthy of capital pun- 
ishment. He was according to his own confession 
deserving of the ignominious death he was suffering. 
He may have been a pagan, and if so his religious 
education had been nothing but a jumble of silly and 
licentious fables about the heathen gods. He wanted 
that mightiest agent to melt the heart — the recollec- 
tions of the religious instruction of childhood. To 



274 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

him there were no remembrances of the little closet, 
and of prayers learned by rote from the lips of a pious 
mother, to revive latent truth and awaken dormant 
affections. 

Moreover the man was dying. He was writhing in 
the agonies of crucifixion. Life was ebbing rapidly 
to a close. His spirit was fluttering on the brink of 
hell. Yet he joined with the other thief in railing at 
and reviling him who alone could save him. The 
other Evangelists say that " the thieves " took up the 
taunt from the crowd around the cross and cast the 
" same in his teeth. " 

But hark ! His scoffings are turned to supplica- 
tions ! He prays ! God has ordained that this brand 
be plucked from the burning. The Holy Spirit 
touches the heart of that thief, and though apparently 
as flinty and as unsusceptible of any impression as the 
rock that Moses smote, yet a gracious stream gushed 
forth. 

If any think the evidences of this conversion are 
scanty, I invite such to examine for a few moments 
the faith he manifested, and this is the test of all 
Christian character. Such faith would save Satan if 
the Gospel had been designed for devils. 

" I know not," says Calvin, "that since the creation 
of the world there ever was a more remarkable and 
striking example of faith/' 

He had to believe on one whom the highest tri- 
bunal in the land had put on a level with himself — 
one who " was in the same condemnation/' He had 
to believe that a bleeding, dying, insulted fellow-suf- 
ferer was the God of glory and Redeemer of the 
world. The eye of his faith had to pierce through 



THE THIEF ON THE CROSS. 275 

all this humiliation and shame to see his divinity. 
His faith had to break through the ignominy of the 
Son of Man in order to get to the Son of God. He 
seizes, too, with a vigorous and as it were an intui- 
tive faith upon all the fundamental principles of Chris- 
tianity. He believes in a future state, the divinity of 
Christ, human inability, and the necessity of a Saviour. 
The Spirit has darted all these truths into his heart, 
and he has responded cordially to the divine teaching. 

He was made no exception to the manner of coming 
to Christ. The law of the Gospel was not relaxed a 
particle. He came as all must come. He repented 
and confessed. He was converted as a sinner. The 
other malefactor wanted to escape ; but this one ac- 
knowledges his guilt. He repents as David repented, 
as Bunyan repented, as any Christian repents. To- 
gether with this conviction of sin comes the conscious- 
ness of human helplessness. He dictates no terms, 
proposes no conditions, but surrenders himself wholly 
to the mercy of God in Christ, and in that surrender 
every spark of pride is extinguished. There is no ask- 
ing for a seat at the right or left hand of the Saviour ; 
he asks for no place whatever, but simply a remem- 
brance. " Remember me when thou comest into 
thy kingdom." The prayer is touchingly humble. 

Euclid said there is no royal road to geometry. 
With much greater truth it can be said there is no 
royal road to heaven. Every rich and royal sinner 
must come to Christ just as this poor thief came. At 
the cross is one of the places where the rich and the 
poor meet together. David threw aside his robes of 
royalty and went into the closet, not as a king but as 
a sinner, and prayed like the publican. Christianity 



276 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

admits no reservations, and makes no compromises. 
It will have the whole of the price, or none at all. 
He who would obtain the happy assurance of the 
thief must commit the matter of his salvation to Christ 
as he did. The experience of Christians is essentially 
the same in all ages. The religion of this thief is the 
religion of Adam and Abel and Enoch. His experi- 
ence is theirs. 

But I have already kept you too long from the 
Saviour's part of the dialogue. The answers of our 
Lord, especially to those in distress, have the direct- 
ness of a sunbeam. There is no ambiguity about 
them. To one he says, " Son, be of good cheer ; thy 
sins be forgiven thee." To another, " Daughter, be 
of good comfort ; thy faith hath made thee whole." 
To a third, " I will ; be thou clean." The same 
promptness and directness characterize his answer to 
the thief. 

All the sayings of the Saviour are of great interest 
because on every subject he touched never man spake 
as he did ; but his sayings while on the cross are pos- 
sessed of special interest on account of the circum- 
stances of their delivery. They have in /them the 
melancholy sweetness of a broken, half articulate fare- 
well of a dying friend. There are seven of these 
sayings on the cross recorded. Three of them are 
expressions of compassion for those around him. He 
prays for his executioners with tenderness enough to 
make a statue weep. He notices his mother — speaks 
to her kindly, and commends her to the protection of 
the disciple mest beloved. Another is the answer of 
the text, by which he converted the cross of a thief 
into the deathbed of a Christian. Was there ever 



THE THIEF ON THE CROSS. 277 

such a change ? An hour ago he was blaspheming, 
now he is praying and praising. In the morning he 
was posting on to perdition, before night he was with 
his Redeemer in Paradise. Never was such assurance 
given to mortal as was given to this penitent by this 
reply. You may search the Bible from beginning to 
end, and you will find nothing like it. How dif- 
ferent this answer from any that men would have 
made him ! Some would have told him he was too 
wicked, others that it was too late, his day of grace 
was passed. The Romish priest would have sent him 
to Purgatory instead of to Paradise. But, thank 
Heaven, amidst this babel of human opinions there is 
a more sure word of prophecy, which always yields an 
infallible certainty to the souls that trust it. There is 
a truth in the text that extinguished forever the fire 
of Purgatory, and silenced effectually all who would 
exalt sacraments or ordinances above the sacrifice of 
Christ. 

Thoughts at once obvious and interesting arise 
spontaneously from so suggestive a subject as this. 
One of the most evident of them all is Christ's power 
to save. If ever a sinner's case was desperate, this 
thief's was. The most sanguine piety could scarcely 
have indulged a hope ; yet the Saviour brought him 
off triumphant and took him to glory as a trophy of 
his finished work. And if he could save while on the 
cross, who will despair now that he is in his kingdom 
and on his throne ? If, while he himself was dying, 
he could save the thief from eternal death, who will 
now despair, seeing he " ever liveth to make interces- 
sion for us " ? And oh ! the precious power of that 
blood of atonement. While it was yet streaming 



278 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

fresh and warm from the Redeemer's body, see what 
it could do ! It could take this dying robber, wash 
his soul of stains that had been deepening for a life- 
time, and in an hour make him clean and holy — fit for 
the inheritance of the saints in light. Ye who would 
make sure of heaven, try the efficacy of this blood. 
Here is the specific, and the only specific that can 
cure and save you. 

But Christ's power to save is not more certain than 
his readiness to save. 

Would it not be natural to suppose that he might 
be excused from answering prayer or granting pardons 
just then? Without adverting to his spiritual agony, 
which was the burden of his passion, let us look a 
moment at his physical conditions. In the 22d 
Psalm we have a wonderful and dramatic description 
of the Saviour's sufferings while on the cross. Accord- 
ding to this " all his bones are out of joint," his 
" strength dried up like a potsherd," and his " tongue 
cleaving to his jaws." These all are the natural 
effects of crucifixion. His extension on the cross 
would dislocate his joints. One of the most painful 
things in the world is to keep any part of the body in 
an unnatural position for any length of time. But 
the Saviour's body with all his bones out of joint had 
been kept in such a posture for hours ; yet, notwith- 
standing, he is ready to listen to the first breathings of 
prayer in a dying penitent. The loss of blood, and 
the mid-day sun in a hot climate parching his naked 
body, would soon bring on violent inflammation in the 
wounded parts, which would spread through all the 
veins and arteries, and rapidly dry up the moisture of 
the system, and thus produce the most intense and 



THE THIEF ON THE CROSS. 279 

intolerable thirst. No description of a battle-field is 
full and faithful which does not introduce the cries of 
the wounded for water. The soldier, as he lies wel- 
tering in his blood, will beg for water or for death. 
These entreaties are touching, and used to draw tears 
from the eyes of Napoleon, the hero of a hundred 
battles. It was this furnace-like thirst that dried up 
the strength of the Saviour like a potsherd. He did 
not complain of the nails in his hands or the spikes 
in his feet, he said not a word about his sore and 
swollen joints, but he was compelled to cry " I thirst." 
Yet, parched for drink as he was, he forgot all to save 
the thief. 

To understand fully the sufferings of Christ on the 
cross, it must ever be borne in mind that he was a 
perfect man. He did not assume half of our nature 
but the whole of it. He was tremblingly alive to 
insult and ignominy ; so insult and ignominy were 
made ingredients of the bitter cup he drank. " I may 
tell all my bones while they look and stare upon me/' 
is a part of the description to which I have already 
alluded. This being stared upon is here put alongside 
of his most intense bodily agony. We have seen the 
Romans gambling for his clothes. He is exposed for 
hours to the embarrassing stare of a gaping crowd. 
One of the sorest temptations to which anyone can be 
subjected is to be dared to put forth a power which 
he is conscious of possessing. The Saviour escaped 
not this temptation either. " Ha ! " cries one on this 
side of the cross, " he saved others — let him save 
himself if he be the Christ, the Chosen of God." And 
on the other side cries another, " Ah ! If thou be 
King of the Jews, as thou dost profess to be, save 



280 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

thyself." Now these taunts were as much a part of 
the Crucifixion as the stripes and the nails were. They 
were poisoned arrows that stuck and quivered in their 
victim. But all this could not make him disregard 
for one instant the sinner at his side. His fever and 
intolerable thirst produced in his case, as it would in 
the case of anyone, a swelling of the tongue. It 
would be. painful and difficult for him to speak. He 
might have heard and pardoned the thief without 
uttering a word of comfort ; but no ! no ! in broken, 
half-articulate accents he gives him an assurance 
such as he never gave a patriarch, prophet, or apostle. 
Doubt that this light streaming around us comes 
from the sun, doubt your own identity or existence, 
doubt anything, but never doubt Christ's willingness 
to save the worst, the humblest, the youngest, the 
oldest, all — everyone. Listen to me when I tell you he 
is ready to save all, everyone ! I will make the asser- 
tion as strong as the Englisii language can make it ; 
as strong as all languages, living or dead, can make it. 
The power of prayer is another truth growing out 
of this subject. The man had never prayed before. 
The first petition that fell from lips worn callous by 
oaths and blasphemy was answered. It was one in 
which there was no formality. It has been said by an 
eminent divine that if Christ should be engaged in 
creating a world, and the cry of some penitent prodi- 
gal should be addressed to him, if both could not 
be attended to at once, he would abandon the 
creation of the world to attend to the case of the sinner. 
We can have no dynamics by which to compute the in- 
fluence of prayer until we have an arithmetic by which 
we can compute the value of the soul. 



THE THIEF ON THE CROSS. 281 

Beside its saving quality, it has a preservative power. 
Naturalists tell us of a curious insect called the diving 
water-spider. By a law of its nature this little creature 
can envelop itself in an atmosphere like that which 
encircles the earth, only on a small scale, and thus 
shielded it can descend to the bottom of deep and stag- 
nant pools, and although the water around it be bitter 
and putrid, the diver moves about dry and at its leisure. 
Prayer protects the believer with a vesture like this. 
Guarded thus he can descend into the unhealthy and 
contagious pools of the world, untouched and uncon- 
taminated. Prayer is the buoy which rides the roaring 
flood ; the asbestos robe, which defies the devouring 
flame. It is the tent in which frailty sleeps securely, 
and anguish forgets to mourn. It is the shield on 
which the world and the Wicked One expend their 
darts in vain. And when pain and temptation and 
agony are all over ; whether wafted by Sabbath 
zephyrs, or winged by scorching flames ; whether 
guided by hurrying angels, or dragged by raging 
lions ; whether the starting-point be Patmos, or Jeru- 
salem, or Smithfield, or Babylon, it is the chariot 
which conveys the departing spirit to the Saviour's 
bosom. 

The text corrects an error which it is to be feared is 
quite wide spread. This consists in supposing that 
some preparation is required of the sinner before he 
can come to Christ. Men are ashamed to come to 
the Saviour all covered and reeking with their iniqui- 
ties, and in too many instances set about a vigorous 
reformation of their lives to make themselves, if I 
may so speak, respectable candidates for regenera- 
tion. They want to take a part of the work out of 



282 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

the hands of the Saviour. An egregious error ! 
Christ will do the whole work, or none at all. He 
will have all the glory or none. If a man is dying he 
never thinks of waiting until he himself can effect a 
partial cure before he applies to a physician. The 
sinner's case is similar. What preparation had this 
thief? If he had waited to lop off his more flagrant 
vices ; if he had waited to trim his character into a 
more decent shape ; he would have waited till he was 
evermore undone. 

Let not conscience make you linger, 

Nor of fitness fondly dream; 
All the fitness he requireth, 

Is to feel your need of him. 

There are a great many other topics suggested 
which I cannot take time to discuss. Permit me 
to mention some without dwelling upon them at any 
length. 

(1) Justification is complete at once and forever. 
Bad, abandoned, and desperate as he was, the moment 
this thief believed, he was immaculate in the eyes of 
the law. Justice had nothing against him. With a 
faith only half an hour old he was as completely justi- 
fied as was Abraham with his faith of a century. One 
drop of that blood now trickling down the cross was 
worth all the good works ever performed, all pilgrim- 
ages ever made, or all relics ever collected. The most 
eloquent preacher in France, if not in the world, died 
a few days ago. Among the last things he said was 
that his ministerial labors, his works, and preaching 
he reckoned as filthy rags; "a drop of my Saviour's 
blood," said he, " is infinitely more precious." 



THE THIEF ON THE CROSS. 283 

(2) Faith without works is dead. Let it never 
be forgotten that good works are no part of our 
justification. Let it ever be remembered, on the other 
hand, that faith without them is as worthless as salt 
without savor. They will never produce faith, but 
faith invariably produces them. This thief is no ex- 
ception. He performed one of the best deeds ever 
mortal performed. He confessed Christ before a 
scoffing world. No sooner was he a Christian than he 
made a public profession of Christianity. And was 
ever Christ professed in such circumstances ? He was, 
too, the only one in that awful hour who was found to 
testify to the Saviour's innocence. His disciples, for 
whom he had done so much, had deserted. John in- 
deed was in the crowd, but fear had shut his mouth. 
Not one of those whom Christ had fed or healed was 
there to publicly declare that he was innocent. This 
was left for a dying thief. Who will say now that he 
did no good works ? 

He not only professed Christ, he preached him. 
The sense of pardoned sin makes every man a mis- 
sionary. His field may be small. It may be his own 
household, or his neighborhood, yet he is none the 
less a missionary. Both the Bible and experience 
prove it. " The Spirit and the Bride say, Come ! And 
let him that heareth say, Come ! " As soon as this thief 
heard, he said, Come. He began to preach. He could 
not work for God with hands and feet. They were 
fast to the cross. He had only one member left free 
— his tongue — and that he consecrated to the service, 
swollen, parched, and feverish as it was. All preach- 
ing is not done in the pulpit, or by ministers. 'All can 
do this in their own way. The little child that with 



284 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

clasped hands kneels daily in its closet preaches to 
careless, prayerless men a more powerful sermon 
than was ever delivered by Whitefield or Chalmers. 
The lark that mounted singing to Heaven, as we 
came to church, uttered a sermon on gratitude and 
praise. 

(3) The Gospel as a Gospel of love is exemplified in 
the case of the thief. There is scarcely any more 
striking proof of human depravity than the supreme 
selfishness that has reigned ever since the Fall. Man 
went from Eden a selfish, and consequently an un- 
happy being. This evil, like a haughty tyrant, has 
ruled him ever since. Christianity drives him out of 
self and sends him abroad with blessings for his fel- 
lows. No sooner did grace enter the heart of this 
thief than self-love left ; and he immediately thinks of 
others, admonishes a gentle rebuke to his companion, 
and comes out as the apologist of Christ. 

(4) Religion is the easiest, and at the same time the 
most difficult thing in the world. 

(5) No two parts of the Bible have been wrested 
more from their original purpose than the Parables of 
the thief and the eleventh-hour laborer. " This case," 
it has been said, " is recorded that none should de- 
spair, and only this one that none should presume." 
Indeed the mercies of God are never recorded for 
man's presumption, nor the failings of men for imita- 
tion. Death-bed repentance is too perilous an experi- 
ment to be tried in a case involving so much as the 
loss of the soul. And it never should be forgotten, 
that if one was saved the other was lost ; if one went 
to Paradise with the Saviour, the other went to perdi- 
tion with blasphemy on his lips. It was then as it is 



THE THIEF ON THE CROSS. 285 

now, and as it will be at the Last Day ; two are together, 
the one shall be taken, the other left. The sun that 
ripens one apple rots another. The means of grace 
that are a savor of life unto life to one, are a savor of 
death unto death to another — another in the same 
circumstances, church, pew, or family. The thief 
that was lost had the same opportunities of repentance 
as the other, he heard all he heard ; yet one was taken, 
the other left. 

But I only ask of those who are procrastinating 
to do as much as this man did. We have not a shadow 
of evidence that he had ever before had an opportunity 
of professing Christ. He embraced his very first 
chance. If all would do as he did there would be no 
need of death-bed repentances. 

Have we, or have we not, the faith of this thief ? If 
we have, happy are we. The man who has a tithe of 
his assurance is as far above the petty trifles and 
troubles of the world as the eagle is above the crawl- 
ing snail or the grovelling worm. There is an hour 
coming when we shall all need the remembrance this 
man prayed for as much as he needed it. This reply, 
indeed, shows us how close we live to eternity. A very 
slight partition divides the two states. We step 
aboard the cars ; the glowing wheels have to make a 
deviation of but six inches and we are in eternity. 
When we go aboard a steamboat there is the power of 
five hundred horses tugging at the boilers under us. 
Time is so short that it is really not a hyperbole 
to say of each one of us, to-day we shall be in 
Paradise or perdition. If that could be spoken 
literally, how it would startle us ! It should startle 
us as it is. 



286 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

When that eventful hour comes, and come it 
must, it will little matter if our friends neglect and 
desert us — if our father and mother forget and dis- 
own us ; but it will be a matter of infinite importance 
if then he who remembered the thief shall remember 
us. 









V. 
TRIBULATION AND ITS FRUITS. 



V. 
TRIBULATION AND ITS FRUITS. 

"And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also ; knowing 
that tribulation worketh patience ; 

"And patience, experience ; and experience, hope ; 

"And hope maketh notasha?ned : because the love of God is shed 
abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, which is given unto us. ' 
— Romans v. 3-5. 

In the preceding chapters of this Epistle Paul 
elaborated the argument for justification by faith. 
This fundamental article established, he proceeds to 
show the effects and consequences of it. The first 
effect is : " Peace with God through our Lord Jesus 
Christ." The second is : Access to God through the 
same Saviour. The third is : Exultation in hope of 
the glory of God. The fourth is : Grace to glory in 
tribulations even. 

The chastisements of Christians are a means of 
grace. They are not judicial punishments ; they 
are the corrections of a loving Father. 

Nothing is more clearly revealed than the fact that 
tribulation is an important element in the Christian 
economy. 

In one of his visions John saw " A great multitude, 
which no man could number, of all nations, and kin- 
dreds, and people, and tongues, standing before the 
throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white 
robes and palms in their harkls." 

289 



29O OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS, 

The enquiry is made : " What are these which are 
arrayed in white robes? And whence came they ?" 
The answer is : 

" These are they which came out of great tribula- 
tion, and have washed their robes and made them 
white in the blood of the Lamb.'' 

" I know thy works, and tribulation and poverty," 
are the words of commendation sent by the Spirit to 
the Church of Smyrna. 

" In the world ye shall have tribulation/' were 
among the last words of the Redeemer to his disciples. 

Through much tribulation we must enter into the 
kingdom of God, was the uniform teaching of Paul. 

The manifest teaching of the Bible, therefore, is : 

That tribulations are sanctified to God's people 
and become the means whereby Christians attain to 
the stature of perfect men in Christ Jesus. 

This is the general statement of a general truth. 

In the text Paul gives us a brief analysis of the 
process by which this general result is reached. To 
this analysis I now invite your attention. 

Tribulation worketh patience. Patience includes 
not only the disposition that quietly and meekly sub- 
mits to suffering, but also the power to endure suffer- 
ing. The simple point before us then is : How, in 
the economy of God, is this power acquired ? 

Exercise, effort, is the great law of growth in the 
divine government. It applies to the body. 

If the child should lie in its cradle from morning 
till night it would soon be a corpse or a dwarf. It is 
the irrepressible activity of the child that develops 
the beautiful symmetry of the body. Not a muscle, 
tendon, fibre, nerve, gets leave to remain inert. By 






TRIBULATION AND ITS FRUITS. 291 

an ordinance of God the child romps, the lamb skips, 
and the kitten plays. Exercise is life and strength. 
Inactivity is imbecility or death. 

The muscles on the arm of the blacksmith that 
wields the hammer are as hard as hickory withes. 
The brutal prizefighter goes through the most rigid 
training before he enters the bloody arena. Roman 
fable illustrates the same thing, in the exaggerations 
of the strength of Milo, who, according to ancient 
story, carried a calf every day, his strength increasing 
with its weight, until he carried the full-grown ox, 
and with his hands could rive the living oak. 

The law applies to the mind. 

Why is every student, regardless of his prospective 
sphere, put upon the brain-perplexing problems of 
algebra, geometry, trigonometry, conic sections, and 
calculus ? It is because the mind, as well as the 
body, grows only by effort. The greater the effort, 
the greater the growth. 

Stuffing the mind with facts, dates, principles, is hot 
education. A mind thus crammed is to a really edu- 
cated mind what a sack of wool is to a pillar of brass 
or iron. The man who knows the most is by no 
means the strongest man intellectually. He that 
eats the most is not the strongest man physically. 
Gormandizer is not synonymous with giant. Effort — 
continuous, arduous, intense effort — develops the intel- 
lect, and nothing else will. 

The law applies to the moral nature as well. 

Love, pity, benevolence, are strengthened by exer- 
cise. The more a man pities, the deeper and tenderer 
his pity becomes. His demonstrations may not be 
so great as at first, but his feelings will be stronger. 



292 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

The same is true of benevolence. The more a man 
gives, the more he will give. The more anyone does 
for the good of others, the more is he ready to do. 
The law applies in its full force to all the affections 
and virtues ; they develop and strengthen by exercise 
and only by exercise. 

This same law obtains in our spiritual nature. 

Faith, hope, charity, develop by exercise. Abra- 
ham's faith was athletic because God proved and 
tried him. " The trial of our faith," Peter says, " is 
more precious than that of gold which perisheth." 

Our capacity for suffering is developed in the same 
way. 

"Tribulation worketh patience." 

One unaccustomed to pain will chafe under the 
slightest disorder ; but he whose companion for 
thirty years has been his crutch, who has not been 
free from pain for half a century, is resigned and 
cheerful. His passive powers have been undergoing 
an education all this time. The wonder so frequently 
expressed at the cheerfulness of great sufferers is a 
practical exegesis of the text : " Tribulation worketh 
patience." Physical pain is but a small part of tribu- 
lation. The soul is more susceptible, by far, than the 
body. " The spirit of a man will sustain his in- 
firmity ; but a wounded spirit who can bear ?" The 
wide territory of man's sensibilities and susceptibili- 
ties is exposed to attack ; soul and body suffer. 
Tribulation embraces the whole range of human 
sensibility. 

God, in his manifold wisdom and infinite skill, 
adopts various expedients in his providence to disci- 
pline and edify his people. As varied as the skill 



TRIBULATION AND ITS FRUITS. 293 

which clothes the earth with blades of grass and robes 
the forests of all the globe in leaves, no two of which 
are precisely alike, is the dealing of God toward 
different individuals. 

Many of the noblest traits and highest virtues are 
brought out only by tribulation, as the golden wheat 
flies from its husk beneath the flail ; or as the 
mallet and the chisel bring statuary from the form- 
less marble, or as darkness makes the stars leap forth 
from the depths of the heavens. The man who escapes 
tribulation goes to his grave with many of the best 
springs of his being untouched and inactive. The 
full rounded symmetry of his character is no more 
developed than the whole harmony of a musical 
instrument is brought out by playing upon one string 
or striking upon one key. God in his providence 
sweeps his hand over all the keys and stops until the 
full harmony of the man's being is called forth. 
The passive powers of humanity God evokes by 
suffering. He stretches out the rod, and it becomes 
the wand beneath which hidden virtues and powers 
spring to light. An entirely new phase is given to 
character. A new and distinct set of qualities and 
attributes is called into exercise. Job in the ex- 
tremities of his affliction is a greater and a better man 
than when he washed his steps with butter and the 
rock poured him out rivers of oil. The strength and 
glory of his character were never seen until he was 
smitten, stricken, and buffeted. Fire slumbers in the 
rock, and slumber it will until the hammer or the iron 
hoof of the prancing steed awakens it. 

He has the most complete and symmetrical char- 
acter who, sustained by God's spirit and grace, has 



294 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

passed through the most trying vicissitudes of fortune 
and the keenest experiences of suffering. 

Nothing more imperiously compels our admiration 
and homage than great patience — the power of endur- 
ing. This power, under God, is developed by tribu- 
lation. "Tribulation worketh patience. ,, 

But this is only the beginning of the work ; the 
first step in a long process. Patience has its results, 
consequences, tendencies, influences. These all 
work. " Patience worketh experience." 

Experience here signifies test or trial. 

It tests the promises of the world and finds them 
false. It tests the promises of God and finds them 
true. It tests the pious affections and finds them 
genuine. 

With false weights in false balances we weigh the 
world, when in prosperity and success. In the fur- 
nace of affliction the balances are more accurate. 
The promises of the world are there received at a 
considerable discount. 

The world fails just when some assistance or 
recourse is needed. It cannot pluck a single sorrow 
from the heart. It cannot put a particle of down in 
a death-bed pillow. It can give no title to any hope 
or inheritance beyond the grave. In all the critical 
junctures of human existence it is barren of sympathy 
and aid. What worth to him was David's crown as 
he went up to the chamber over the gate, crying as 
he went : " O my son Absalom ! my son, my son Ab- 
salom ! would God I had died for thee, O Absalom, 
my son, my son ! " A trinket to lure the hours of a 
child his crown seemed then to him. His royal state 
and power proffered him no support or solace. He 



TRIBULATION AND ITS FRUITS. 295 

would have exchanged the regal palace for the shep- 
herd^ hut and his kingly sceptre for the shepherd's 
crook, if thereby he could have plucked from his heart 
the gnawing grief. 

He whose patience has been educated by tribula- 
tion writes with a diamond point on the world's best 
estate : " Thou hast been weighed and art found 
wanting." 

Experience tests the truth of God's promises. 

Many of the most precious promises are verified 
only in affliction. We cannot appreciate the Almighty 
as a shield until we need protection ; nor as a sun 
until we need light. Nor can we appreciate Christ as 
a brother until we need sympathy. 

" As thy day so shall thy strength be ; " " My grace 
shall be sufficient for thee ; " and a large group of 
similar texts have a fulness of meaning, a plenitude 
of comfort in affliction which they never could other- 
wise have. In seasons of severest trials God delights 
to prove himself faithful. He gives his people, at 
such times, indubitable evidences of his veracity and 
sincerity. " Taste and see that the Lord is good," is 
the challenge to every man. The infinite Jehovah 
stakes his character and his throne on the issue. 
Thousands in all ages certify the fact that these 
promises have been kept. They have glorified the 
Lord in the fires. 

Experience tests pious affections and proves them 
genuine. 

The house that resisted the storm and flood fur- 
nished good evidence, by that resistance, that its 
foundation was on a rock. The faith and love and 
holy affections that survive the tribulations which 



296 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

produce patience furnish evidence quite as good 
that their origin is divine. Graces which outlive 
such trials are not the earth-born impulses of an 
hour. The man in whose heart they dwell has passed 
from death unto life. He is a new creature. 

A word, here, of recapitulation. Experience tests 
the hollowness and emptiness of the world. This 
discovery gives wings to the affections and desires. 
They fly up to an eyry that is in the clefts of the 
Rock of Ages, where no storm, or flood, or disaster 
ever comes. The Divine faithfulness is tested at the 
same time, and this produces confidence in God, 
while the trial of faith proves it genuine. All this 
experience tends to one point. All these discoveries, 
influences, and tendencies combine to produce hope. 
Experience worketh hope — a blessed hope — a good 
hope through grace. " Which hope we have as an 
anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and 
which entereth into that within the vail.' , A hope 
that maketh not ashamed ! It will never disappoint 
those who cherish it. It will never perish. 

It is a bitter mortification to find a cherished hope 
go to pieces in the hour when all that it promised 
was about to be realized. But it is a source of grati- 
fication and unspeakable joy to find a hope to which 
we have long and fondly clung more than equal to all 
the emergencies which are to try it. Such will be 
the sequel of the hope begotten of experience. 

The earnest of this final and complete vindication 
of this hope is the love of God shed abroad in the 
heart by the Holy Ghost. A spark of that love once 
in the heart will never go out. Rivers and deluges 
cannot extinguish it. Mountains and continents can- 



TRIBULATION AND ITS FRUITS. 297 

not smother it. It will live on, burn on, until it 
blazes up into a lambent flame of eternal glory. 

Thus : Tribulation worketh patience, patience 
experience, experience hope, and hope maketh not 
ashamed. This is the apostle's inspired analysis. 

The subject may have various applications : 

I. Mark the estate of the righteous. All things 
are theirs, " whether the world, or life, or death, or 
things present, or things to come ; all are theirs ; and 
they ^re Christ's and Christ is God's." 

The believer can glory in tribulation even. He sees 
all things working together for his ultimate good. All 
the chaotic, conflicting, antagonistic events and inter- 
ests of his history are as true to this one great end as 
the needle is true to the pole, or as the planet is loyal to 
the sun. While the unbeliever is bewildered and diz- 
zied by the tumultuous eddy and whirl and strife of 
opposing influences, the believer sits aloft on a calm, 
strong tide, that with steady progress bears him on- 
ward to the everlasting haven. Nothing for a moment 
impedes his course. Nothing can. In prosperity he 
blesses God and walks softly. Beneath the rod he 
sings praises. Amidst the crash and utter wreck of 
earthly fortune he blesses him that gave and him that 
takes away. Temporal loss he sets down as spiritual 
gain. While his deposits and assets are diminishing 
he is laying up treasures in heaven which bankruptcy 
can never touch. His assets on high are safe. His 
deposits there are in the vaults of a bank that never 
fails or suspends. 

The great universe, as it rushes like the lightning 
through immensity, will be made to stand still, if need 
be, sooner than the real interest of the meanest saint 



298 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

shall suffer detriment to the weight or valuation of a 
hair. 

If riches are for your good, the riches of the Roths- 
childs shall be yours. Your cup and your coffers 
shall be filled, pressed down, heaped up, shaken 
together, running over. If honors are for your good, 
honors you shall have until they overtop the regal 
splendors that perched on the imperial crest of 
David's son. If tribulation is for your good, tribula- 
tion you shall have. In the furnace you shall stay 
until all dross is purged away ; and God, the great 
Refiner, shall see his own image clearly reflected in 
you. If necessary you shall pass from the society of 
dogs at the rich man's gate to be ushered through 
pearly gates into the New Jerusalem. 

II. There is then a unity in the Christian's life. The 
purpose of God toward him is single. Everything in 
Divine providence contributes to carrying forward the 
Divine purpose. The believer's falls and backslid- 
ings are overruled for his good. Peter never forgot 
his denial. Perhaps no experience less bitter would 
ever have shaken his self-confidence. This, however 
(it may be observed parenthetically), no more justifies 
these falls and backslidings than the purpose of God 
justified the betrayer and crucifiers of our Lord in 
their work of perfidy and blood. To man belongs 
the sin. To God belongs the glory of bringing good 
out of evil. 

No vicissitudes of fortune, therefore, no reverses, 
no disasters, can disturb the believer's relations with 
his God ; nor change the purpose of his God toward 
him ; nor arrest the drift and current of his life 
heavenward. Let all else be lost, the Divine idea of 



TRIBULATION AND ITS FRUITS. 299 

ultimate salvation is preserved. This is never lost, 
nor lost sight of. Let fire, and flood, and financial 
crises come. Let them take everything that is inflam- 
able ; the title-deed to an inheritance in light is safe. 
It is secure beyond all risks. Scent of fire, moisture 
of flood, or tooth of moth shall never touch it. 

We do not need, therefore, a different adminis- 
tration of Providence, nor a new charter, nor an 
amended constitution of the kingdom of God. The 
urgent need of Christendom is an overcoming faith. 
" This is the victory that overcometh the world, even 
our faith. " 

We stand amidst the deafening jar and din of con- 
flicting interests. To the carnal and sensuous ear it 
is a bedlam of harsh and discordant noises. The ear 
of faith, however, detects a melodious harmony in it all. 

We stand amidst events which seem to us as lawless 
and frenzied as a mob. Backward, forward, hither- 
ward, thitherward they seem to be rushing in all the 
complex and intricate movements of chaos and con- 
fusion. Rise, my hearers, up to the serene region 
of faith and look down. Then you will see order 
springing out of chaos, system out of confusion. 
Then you will see tribulation working patience, 
patience experience, experience hope, and hope 
exultant in victory. 

III. The legitimate effect of hope is to elevate, 
ennoble, and make magnanimous. 

He that cherishes the hope of a nobleman's estate 
will pitch the tenor of his life above the purposes of 
a scavenger. This buoys up his tastes and pursuits. 
Pluck this from the heart of man and you consign 
him to infamy and beggary : but plant in his heart a 



300 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

joyous hope and you give him an impulse that will 
do much toward his elevation. 

The aims, the conduct, the bearing of a Christian, 
should comport with the hope he indulges. Ye are 
God's noblemen. Act worthy of your estate and the 
reversion in prospect for you ! 

How can you go back to the beggarly elements of 
the world ? For a Christian to besmear his profession 
with the vices of the world is as incongruous as it 
would be for a king to act the part of a pimp or a 
buffoon. " He that hath this hope purifieth himself 
even as God is pure/' Your citizenship is in heaven. 
Act as though that citizenship were a reality and not 
a sham. Actuated by such a hope, men ought to 
surmount all difficulties. With such a goal in view 
they ought to scale mountains, swim oceans, cross 
deserts, quench fire, vanquish storms, put fear beneath 
their feet, challenge death f and defy the powers of 
the grave. Not for one moment should their courage 
be dampened or their zeal abated, not even by the 
most formidable obstacles which the powers of dark- 
ness can interpose between them and their prospect 
of such a realization. 

Could we but climb where Moses stood, 

And view the landscape o'er, 
Not Jordan's stream, nor death's cold flood, 

Should fright us from the shore. 

In the presence of such a hope all murmurings, 
complainings, repinings, ought to be hushed into per- 
petual silence. 

This life is but an infinitesimal segment of the soul's 
existence, On ! on ! on ! and outward, and upward 



TRIBULATION AND ITS FRUITS. 3OI 

stretches the immortal life of man. Embrace in your 
calculations that endless existence, the glory of which 
will augment forever, and what signify our present 
afflictions, which are light and but for a moment ? 
They no more disturb the great sum total of the 
spirit's blessedness than the vibration of a gnat's 
wing disturbs the depths of the ocean. 

When the travel-worn Israelite found himself at last 
in Canaan, plucking the grapes of Eshcol, he forgot 
the trials of the wilderness and blushed that he should 
ever have complained. And if the sensation of shame 
can be felt in heaven, the Christian will blush to 
remember that, with such a hope within him and with 
such a prospect before him, his lips ever uttered, or 
his heart ever harbored, a murmur or a complaint. 



VI. 



THE ASCENSION OF CHRIST. 



3j2 



, 



VI. 

THE ASCENSION OF CHRIST. 

"And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he 
tvas taken up ; and a cloud received him out of their sight. 

"And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as he went 
up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel ; 

" Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing tip 
into heaven ? this same Jesus, which is taken up from yon into 
heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go i)ito 
heaven" — Acts i. 9-1 1. 

Brief as this account is, it is the longest we have of 
the ascension of the Lord. The fact is so grand and 
sublime that it had no need to be put on the stilts of 
grandiloquent language. The account tells us in 
chaste, simple phraseology all that it is necessary for 
us to know. 

The central doctrine here is the ascension of the 
Lord. This is the stem, the trunk, and anything 
else in the passage belongs to the trunk as branches 
belong to the tree. 

Forty days after his resurrection the Son of God 
ascended to heaven to assume the universal authority 
of his mediatorial kingdom. 

This was a real transaction. It was no sham. As 
his incarnation, death, and resurrection were real, so 
was his ascension real. The incarnate Son of God 
in his theanthropic Person ascended from Olivet. 

305 



306 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

The reality of his bodily presence he demonstrated 
on several occasions after his resurrection. In this 
body, from a definite locality, within full and satis- 
factory view of competent witnesses, he gradually 
ascended to heaven. The same Jesus who lived, and 
died, and arose on earth, ascended to and now reigns 
and intercedes on high. Although removed from 
their sight he is not separated from his people. All 
his human interests, attachments, associations, and 
sympathies he took with him. A whole Christ is in 
heaven on the mediatorial throne. His interest in 
his people is as undying as is the power of his 
eternal life. 

He went up from a definite locality. From a cer- 
tain hill-top within view of men he ascended to a 
place where his glorified body now is. 

It was necessary that Christ should thus ascend 
because : 

I. He carries on his mediatorial work in heaven. 
He, as their Great High Priest, intercedes for his 
people. His death and resurrection instead of finish- 
ing his work only fully inaugurated it. His redemp- 
tive sufferings were finished, but his mediatorial work 
was only fairly begun. He ascended to heaven to 
carry it on. Within view of the scenes of his agony 
and crucifixion, in the body which was nailed to the 
cross, he went up to further advance in glory the 
salvation which he began in humiliation and suffer- 
ings. His interest in the results of his earthly mis- 
sion is just as fresh to-day as it was on the day he 
passed into heaven. In his glorified humanity, sus- 
ceptible of being " touched with a feeling of our 
infirmities," he prosecutes his work on high. This 



THE ASCENSION OF CHRIST. 307 

was the object of his ascension. " He ever lives to 
make intercession for us." 

II. It was necessary that he should ascend in order 
that the Holy Ghost should be given. 

To his sorrowing disciples Christ said : " It is ex- 
pedient for you that I go away, for if I go not away 
the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I 
depart I will send him unto you." 

This was the divine arrangement. We are under 
the dispensation of the Spirit. Christ was " exalted 
to give repentance and the remission of sins." The 
redemption which he purchased with his blood must 
be applied by the Holy Ghost. In thus ascending he 
was making another step in the progress of his work. 
Instead of having the earth as the centre of his 
achievements he has the throne of universal empire ; 
and with the reins of dominion in his hands, and all 
powers and forces at his service, he sheds forth on 
the Church the gracious influences of his reign. By 
his precious blood Christ purchased our redemption. 
But Redemption would be valueless and inefficacious 
if it were not applied. The application thereof is the 
office of the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost is God as 
really as the Father or the Son. He loves sinners as 
tenderly as Christ does. As lovingly as the Redeemer 
himself, does the Holy Ghost deal with them. So 
that to each one who accepts it, this redemption is as 
perfectly applied as though there were but one sinner 
on earth and as though the Trinity had no other work 
than the salvation of that one soul. When Christ left 
the earth he did not leave his work unplanned. All 
was arranged. From the universal throne down to 
the smallest incident which concerns a child of God, 



3oS OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

everything is made to contribute to the good of the 
Church. In all those vast and intricate connections 
there are no gaps. The system is a harmonious unit. 

III. Again, he said to his stricken disciples : " I go 
to prepare a place for you. ,, In his intercessory 
prayer he reveals his deep interest in the future of his 
people when he says, " Father, I will that they also 
whom thou hast given me be with me where I am, 
that they may behold my glory." 

He has gone on high to prepare a place for his 
people ; a place adapted to the glorified humanity of 
believers. What that preparation is who can tell ! 
Enough to know that he who gave his life a ransom 
for sinners is making the preparations. And while he 
is preparing the place yonder the believer is being 
fitted therefor by all the gracious dealings of God 
toward him. 

This abode which Christ is preparing for his people 
is no narrow or pent-up habitation. Lift up your 
thoughts to take in something of the magnitude of 
God's works. God's thoughts are not as our thoughts. 
Imagination is not swift enough or bold enough to 
reach the boundaries of the universe. The telescope 
sweeps a circle whose diameter is twelve million years 
as the light travels. That is, it would take a ray of 
light twelve million years to cross this diameter. 
" The rays which reached our earth last night from 
the pole star started forty-six years ago." There are 
orbs within that telescopic circle from which light that 
started when Moses was in the ark of bulrushes is 
travelling yet and has not reached the earth. " Could 
the heavens above us be blotted out, we should con- 
tinue to receive light for thousands of years." 



THE ASCENSION OF CHRIST. 309 

And with all that, how feeble and inadequate tele- 
scopic vision is ! That which it reveals, vast as it is, 
is only a corner of the universe. Beyond telescopic 
ken, there are systems and galaxies of systems stretch- 
ing away to distances which to us are infinite. All 
that we know of the universe is no more than a hint 
and a suggestion of its vastness and grandeur. This, 
however, we do learn, that order and subordination 
reign everywhere. Planets revolve around their 
suns ; suns with their planets revolve around other 
centres ; galaxies of systems move in rhythm around 
higher centres ; and systems of galaxies move around 
still higher centres. We are justified in believing that 
there is a common centre, and capital, and metropolis 
of all ; and may it not be that in this centre Christ is 
preparing a place for his people ? Suppose that on 
this summit of the universe the heavenly Jerusalem is 
builded, and that the glorified spirit has a vision 
which can sweep and take in all that is below that 
summit ! Such a place, as an abode for his people, 
would be no more than conformable with all that 
Christ has done to render them capable of enjoying 
a heavenly inheritance. Past suns and systems and 
galaxies, attended by a retinue of angels, Christ, " lead- 
ing captivity captive," ascended to his throne in 
heaven. Where he is, there shall his people be also. 
Their outlook will be upon the universe. Their 
study will be the annals of God's marvellous works. 
Nothing less than eternity can suffice for such a study. 

God is great. His works declare him so. But 
we have mean and low ideas of Him. This earth is 
only a pebble amidst the magnitudes around us. 
Look up at the Milky Way at night. In it there are 



3IO OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

eighteen million suns, whirling through space at the 
rate of thirty thousand miles a minute. We count 
forty miles an hour fast. The sun seems to us large, 
and so it is ; but yonder is a star which is two hun- 
dred and fifty times as large ; and yonder another 
which shines with the power of twelve thousand suns 
like ours. 

When such a Creator, with such resources at 
hand, undertakes to prepare a place for his blood- 
bought people, what will that place be ? In the light 
of these facts read again the Saviour's words, " I go to 
prepare a place for you." 

Having thus considered the main fact, let us give 
some attention to two or three incidental matters. 

i. He continued to converse with his disciples to 
the very last. " When he had spoken these things " 
" he was taken up." Luke says : " While he blessed 
them, he was carried up into heaven." His deep 
and lively interest in his people survived his suffer- 
ings. It was active and tireless during the forty days, 
and as he ascended he shed down blessings upon his 
awe-struck disciples. He is just as near to his people 
now as though he stood in the midst of them, bodily, 
as he stood among his disciples on Olivet. He as 
really blesses them as though the blessings were 
uttered audibly from his cloudy chariot. Our faith is 
dull and laggard ! Unbelief suggests that the Being 
who sits as ruler among all these magnificences, 
amidst clustering suns and marshalled systems, will 
not stoop to notice the affairs of a poor sinner on this 
mean ball of our earth. The answer is that Christ is 
God; and God no more neglects the unfolding of a 
corn blade than he neglects the revolving of suns. 



THE ASCENSION OF CHRIST. 311 

With him the bottle in which he keeps the tears of 
his poor saints is more precious than a world blazing 
with diamonds. To him the experiences by which 
holiness is developed in a believing heart are of more 
interest than the marshalled glories of the starry host. 
A pure desire, a holy emotion, is worth more than a 
universe of material splendor. 

2. The ascension is a matter of history, as the 
resurrection is. 

It was seen by competent witnesses. They had 
conversed with him, had walked with him — and they 
saw him ascend from the midst of them. They 
bore united testimony to the fact. Their testi- 
mony has been sifted by an infidel world. 

Were these men mistaken ? They were convinced 
of the resurrection against their prepossessions. 
They were not looking for such an event. Neither 
were they expecting the ascension. They hoped that 
Christ would remain on earth and establish a kingdom. 

Were they dishonest ? Why should they die in 
defence of a lie ? Why should they lay down their 
lives for an impostor ? 

3. This same Jesus shall come again to judgment. 
This same Jesus ! He changes not. As God-man he 
will come to judge the world. In the body which 
was scourged and crowned with thorns, and which 
was nailed to the cross, he will sit on the throne of 
judgment. All nations shall be gathered before him. 
" His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom." Amidst 
incessant flux and change our faith is apt to give way. 
But through all, the truth and righteousness of Christ's 
kingdom remain, and will remain evermore. Whatever 
betides, the " foundation of God standeth sure/' 



312 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

And at last, right under the gaze of this same Jesus, 
all things will be tried, weighed, and judged. Then, 
with the light of the judgment hour streaming, flash- 
ing through all cloaks, shams, and disguises, the uni- 
verse will see the transparent hideousness of the char- 
acter of all " dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, 
and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth 
and maketh a lie." 

Live for that day ! Put beneath your feet and into 
the dust all interests and theories which are inconsis- 
tent with the eternal principles which shall then decide 
all issues ! So believe and live that you can on that 
day claim the king as your friend and elder brother — 
the same Jesus in whom you believe and whom you 
serve. 

If a believer, " your citizenship is in heaven." You 
are a sojourner and a stranger here. Your home is 
yonder. You seek a " city which hath foundations." 
While you touch the earth with your feet, by faith 
you should lay your hand on the stars. You should 
" seek those things which are above, where Christ 
sitteth on the right hand of God." Your lot and in- 
heritance are there — among the grandeurs and mag- 
nificences of the metropolis of the universe. While 
you walk amidst temporalities your faith should be 
familiar with spiritualities. It is only thus that 
secular callings become dignified. The commonest 
laborer while he pursues his toil may, by spiritual 
contemplation, elevate and refine his nature. While 
his hand digs, his spirit soars. The man who thinks 
great thoughts lives a noble life, even though he be a 
hod-carrier ; and he who thinks mean thoughts is an 
ignoble man, even though he wear the royal purple. 



THE ASCENSION OF CHRIST. 313 

If a believer, in a few years you will be a king, a 
priest unto God. Be content with your lot now. 

Think of the place which Christ is preparing for 
you, and be careful to depart from all iniquity. Ye 
who are to handle crowns and sceptres, soil not your 
hands with any manner of uncleanness. 






VII. 

THE GREAT SALVATION. 



VII. 

THE GREAT SALVATION. 

"How shall we escape , if we neglect so great salvation?" — 
Hebrews ii. 3. 

The apostle is not speaking here of the greatness 
of salvation in an absolute sense ; but he is contrast- 
ing the Law and the Gospel — the Mosaic economy 
and the Christian dispensation. The Law was given 
by or through the mediation of angels. Even the 
Decalogue, which was uttered to the people directly 
and not through Moses as mediator, was, neverthe- 
less, given through the mediation of angels. But the 
Gospel, as distinguished from the Law, was delivered 
directly by Jesus Christ. According to this view, 
then, the greatness of salvation consists in this, that 
it was spoken to us directly by the Son of God. 

The argument is from the less to the greater. The 
word spoken by angels was steadfast, and every 
transgression and disobedience received a justrecom- 
pence of reward. Sins of inattention, sins of omis- 
sion, as well as sins of commission, were condignly 
punished. How, then, shall we escape if we neglect 
the salvation which was delivered by the Son of God ? 
This does not array the Gospel against the Law, or 
the Law against the Gospel. It does not mean that 
there is no Gospel in the Law, or that there is no Law 
in the Gospel ; neither does it destroy the unity of the 

317 



318 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

Bible. Both Law and Gospel are equally the Word of 
God. The only difference is that in the one case 
the Word came to man mediately, and in the other 
immediately. " In time past God spake unto the 
fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he hath 
spoken to us by his Son." The word of the prophets 
is as really the Word of God as is any part of the 
New Testament. There is no antagonism between 
the different parts of the Bible. It is all God's Word. 
But it was delivered under different dispensations, 
and our responsibilities are awfully increased because 
in these last times we have received the Word from the 
lips of the Son of God himself. 
Two topics claim attention, viz.: 

I. The greatness of the salvation. 

II. The greatness of our consequent responsi- 
bility. 

I. The greatness of this salvation. 

As already seen, this consists in the fact that the 
Gospel was spoken by the Son. Who, then, is the Son ? 
(i) What is he as described by Paul ? 

(a) He is the brightness of the Father's glory. 
This means that he is the very essence of the Father, 
as light is the very essence of the sun. He is not a 
reflection of the Father's glory, but, on the other hand, 
the very effulgence and fulness of it, the manifestation 
of that glory to men. He thought it not robbery to 
be equal with God. 

(b) " He is the express image of his person. " 

The figure here is that of a stamp or die. The 
impression corresponds exactly to the image on the 
stamp. The son is the express image of the Father's 
essence. The point here is the exact correspondence 



THE GREAT SALVATION. 319 

of the two. What God is in essence, that is the Son. 
Who, then, is the Son, who has spoken ? He is God 
essentially in every attribute. This is undoubtedly 
what the apostle wished to express, and he has 
taxed the powers of language to put it into phrase- 
ology which cannot be misunderstood. It is only by 
exquisite torturing of language that any other mean- 
ing can be made even to appear in these sentences. 

But (2) what is the Son described as doing ? What 
are his acts and prerogatives ? If there could be 
any doubt as to his nature before, there certainly can 
be none after the apostle enumerates his works and 
offices. 

(a) He is heir of all things. Sonship suggests 
heirship. A son inherits because he is the equal of 
his father. Besides, no being less than God can in- 
herit all things in the sense in which the heir inherits 
here ; for, as we shall see, inheritance implies uphold- 
ing and ruling. It would be the sheerest and 
severest mockery to put such an inheritance into the 
hands of any creature. The heir to such an estate 
must be God — God in essence, God in every attribute. 

(b) But beside sonship, there is another ground for 
this heirship ; that is, creation. " By whom, also, he 
made the worlds." 

John says, " In the beginning was the Word, and 
the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 
All things were made by him and without him was 
not anything made that was made. " He has the right, 
the proprietorship, which arise from creation. He 
has made the worlds. He has laid the foundations 
of the earth, and stretched forth the heavens as a tent. 
He has made and possesses all things. He who was 



320 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

rich, for our sakes became poor. How ineffably rich, 
then, was he as Creator and heir ! 

(c) Unless he were God he could neither possess 
nor create all things. But as if to remove the possi- 
bility of doubt the apostle adds another divine pre- 
rogative : " Upholding all things by the word of his 
power." " By him all things consist/' No less power 
is required to sustain than to create. 

In essence, in act, and in prerogative the Son is 
God. He who has created and possesses and upholds 
all things, cannot be one whit less than God. 

(d) But this Creator, Possessor, and Upholder 
purged our sins. This involved infinite condescen- 
sion and humiliation. He not only stooped to take 
upon him our nature, but he took on him the form of 
a servant, emptied himself, became of no reputation, 
and " became obedient unto death, even the death of 
the cross." 

Now we can understand something of the greatness 
of this salvation. It was procured by the Creator, 
Possessor, and Upholder of all things, and at the cost 
of his incarnation, humiliation, sufferings, and death. 
By him was this salvation spoken. He brought the 
great message directly to men. 

(i) He spoke with infinite authority, because he 
was God, having infinite power, excellence, and pre- 
rogative. He spoke, too, without mediators of any 
kind; standing face to face with man. 

(2) He spoke as the God-man ; in his human na- 
ture ; in his indescribably glorious mediatorial Per- 
son ; composed of perfect divinity and complete 
humanity. While he spoke as God he at the same 
time spoke in the sphere and on the plane of human- 



THE GREAT SALVATION. 32 1 

ity. While it seemed to be one man speaking with 
another, it was God speaking with all divine authority 
and out of all the fulness of divine wisdom. 

(3) He did not contradict the Old Testament Scrip- 
tures. He did not nullify what had been said and 
done by the prophets who spake to the fathers. He 
did not destroy the Law, but fulfilled it to the utter- 
most. He confirmed all that had been hitherto 
revealed. Indeed, he himself was the fulfilment of it. 
So that, not only did he conserve the unity of revela- 
tion, but he was the most perfect realization thereof. 
He abolished the types only by taking the place 
of them, and of all that they prefigured. All these 
pointed forward to him. All scattered rays concen- 
trated in him. He bound all the parts of revelation 
together. Types, prophecies, figures, shadows, and 
suggestions all met in him ; and his word was the 
completion of the great salvation. His word was the 
final, the consummate word, and he spoke it directly 
to man. 

(4) He spoke with infinite interest and sympathy, 
because he not only taught this salvation, but he was 
himself the salvation. Its doctrines and hopes w T ere 
the product of his sufferings. He carried the whole 
system in his own person on the cross, and brought it 
in triumph with him from the sepulchre of Joseph of 
Arimathea. Never was there such a teacher as this. 
" Never man spake like this man ! " How philosophy 
pales before his simple utterances of truth — truth 
which he had lived and which he had vitalized by his 
death. He was the Truth, and he directly revealed 
himself to men. 

But there is another supreme fact which enhances 



322 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

the greatness of this salvation, viz.: After he had 
purged our sins, he sat down on the right hand of the 
Majesty on high. To that exalted position he took 
our nature, lifting it far above angel and seraph, and 
associating it with divinity on the universal throne. 
And such was the completeness of the finished work 
which he had engaged in covenant to do, that it is in 
infinite consistence with divine right that he should, 
in his complex person, occupy this exalted place. And 
in the same line of consistency and congruity he has 
received a name which is above every name — a name 
which will be known fully only when mysteries which 
are now unfathomable shall be revealed in eternity. 
But this name belongs to him, not as the son of God 
simply, not as God simply, not as King of kings and 
Lord of lords, but as God-man, as Redeemer, Saviour 
of sinners. 

This Son of God, in the ineffable excellence of his 
character, and in the fulness of his covenant relations 
and achievements, spoke this salvation to men. He 
committed the final and complete delivery of it to no 
mediators, but spoke it directly himself. In this con- 
sists the greatness of it. How great is this salvation ! 

Another element contributes to the greatness of 
this salvation, and that is this : Whatever by his 
life and sufferings Christ secures, he secures not for 
himself but for his people. He leaves his peace with 
them. He gives his righteousness to them. He 
sends the Comforter to them. He rises from the dead 
and becomes the first-fruits of them that sleep. If he 
is exalted to the right hand of the Majesty on high it 
is that his people may be kings with him. He carries 
his people still in covenant. What is his, therefore, 



THE GREAT SALVATION. 323 

is theirs. He became poor that we might be made 
rich. He humbled himself that along the path of 
his humiliation we might rise to the Majesty on high. 
Oh, great salvation ! 

He who is the brightness of the Father's glory and 
the express image of his person ; who is Creator, Pos- 
sessor, and Upholder of all things, in our nature 
purged our sins, and as God-man — very God and 
very man, the antitype of all types, with infinite inter- 
est and sympathy, being himself the embodiment of 
all his doctrines — spake this salvation to men directly. 
Dispensing with all types and figures and shadows of 
good things to come he spake face to face with men, 
and revealed in his own person the infinite riches of 
divine grace. As God-man he bears a name which 
is above every name ; and when that name shall be 
revealed it will reflect glory upon the redeemed. Oh, 
great salvation ! 

II. I have left myself little time to speak of the 
greatness of our responsibility in regard to this sal- 
vation. 

But surely this subject carries in it and with it its 
own application. Neglect of the Mosaic law was 
punished condignly ; how much more shall neg- 
lect of the Gospel be punished ! There is law in 
the Gospel as surely as there was Gospel in the Law. 
This Gospel was wrought out and was spoken by the 
Lord, and the government of the universe is admin- 
istered by him in order to the complete success of 
the scheme. He tenders it thus wrought out to men. 
He sends his Spirit to recommend and apply it, and 
men neglect it. Could a greater insult be offered to 
the Almighty ? It is not optional with men whether 



324 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

they accept the Gospel or no. The overtures of 
mercy to-day are as direct and personal to each one 
as though the incarnate Son of God stood face to face 
with him and himself made the offer. Believe on the 
Lord Jesus Christ and confess him before men ; this 
is the law on the subject. The supreme sin is unbe- 
lief. It is for this that men are condemned. " He 
that believeth not shall be damned. " In the presence 
of this great salvation and the Author of it, of what 
avail are your excuses ? You have never found a 
time when it was exactly convenient to confess Christ ? 
Making a way of salvation possible involved the humil- 
iation and crucifixion of the Creator, Possessor, and 
Sustainer of all things ; yet you act toward that salva- 
tion as you would not act in reference to a trivial 
business transaction. It is this neglect, this wilful, 
wanton, sinful neglect of salvation which is ruining 
souls by the million. It is the memory of this neg- 
lect which will constitute the undying worm and the 
quenchless fire of hell, and the remembrance of 
slighted opportunities will be fuel to feed the fire 
eternally. To neglect this salvation is to despise the 
riches of God's grace. If we could see the whole 
case in its reality, we would as soon think of cursing 
the Almighty to his face as of neglecting this salva- 
tion by even an hour's delay. 

From first to last the work of Christ contemplates 
and aims at the elevation and exaltation of the indi- 
vidual believer and of human nature. The destina- 
tion of the weakest believer is the right hand of his 
exalted and glorified Lord in the heavens. Through 
Christ is the line of promotion for humanity. The 
aim, the spirit, the tendency of this salvation is to lift 



THE GREAT SALVATION. 325 

up and to carry forward the subjects of it until they 
shall sit with Christ on his throne. Where Christ is, 
there shall they be also. He will withhold from them 
nothing which they can use to edification and enjoy. 
Not only may we say, " How shall we escape, if we 
neglect so great salvation ? " but also, How shall we 
escape, if we neglect so great privilege and oppor- 
tunity ? Cast not from you wantonly such an oppor- 
tunity this morning ! He who is in Christ Jesus by 
faith is not only on his way to heaven, but through 
grace he is on his way to a crown, and a throne, and 
a kingdom, and to an eternal association with the 
exalted and glorified humanity of the Lord Jesus 
Christ. 

" How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salva- 
tion ? " 



VIII. 
CALEB AND THE ANAKIM. 









, 



VIII. 
CALEB AND THE ANAKIM. 

"Then the children of Judah came unto Joshua in Gilgal : and 
Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenezite said unto him" etc. — 
Joshua xiv. 6-15. 

Caleb is first mentioned in the sacred history as 
one of the twelve spies who were sent into Canaan 
from Kadesh-Barnea in the second year after the 
Exodus. Ten of* those spies brought in an evil 
report which greatly disheartened the people. They 
acknowledged, indeed, that the country was a most 
desirable one ; but at the same time they declared 
that the obstacles in the way of its conquest were 
insurmountable. In view of these they quite lost 
their faith and almost lost their senses too. They 
were frightened out of their wits by a few tall speci- 
mens of Anakim which they saw. Then Caleb stood 
nobly forth and stilled the people and said : " Let us 
go up at once and possess the land, for we are well 
able to overcome it." He and Joshua alone were in 
favor of an immediate invasion. Then and there the 
Lord promised an inheritance in Canaan to these two 
men. All the rest of that generation, from twenty 
years old and upward, were doomed to fall in the 
wilderness. 

Some thoughts appropriate to the time and the 
occasion may be deduced from this passage of sacred 
history. 

329 



330 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

I. As we pass along the journey of life our friends 
and companions drop by the way, so that in old age 
we shall be almost alone in respect of those who 
started in life with us. Of the adult generation which 
came out of Egypt only Caleb and Joshua remained. 
Aaron, the high-priest, had died on Mount Hor ; 
Moses had died on Pisgah ; Miriam, who sang the 
response to the Song of' Moses at the Red Sea ; Aho- 
liab and Bezaleel, the architects of the tabernacle ; 
the Levites who first bore the tabernacle ; the 
elders who assisted Moses, and Hobab who accom- 
panied them, all were gone. A new generation had 
succeeded. During these forty-five years how many 
ties had been sundered ! What vicissitudes had been 
experienced ! Caleb had been emancipated from 
slavery ; he had seen the plagues of Egypt — the Nile 
rolling blood, the darkness which could be felt — he 
had heard the lamentations of Egypt when her first- 
born were smitten ; he had heard the thunders of 
Sinai ; he had been in the desert forty years. But he 
was now in the Promised Land. 

During these forty-five years change had marked 
every step of his way ; yet we now find him just 
where he was forty-five years before — in the path 
of duty. He, in this respect, had not changed. 
Times had changed, but he had not changed with 
them. His conduct was not governed by caprice, or 
policy, or expediency, but by principle. It was this 
which gave him steadiness and poise and persever- 
ance. Had he consulted his popularity, he would 
have countenanced the clamors of the crowd at 
Kadesh-Barnea. But right in the teeth of such mur- 
murings he said : " Let us go up at once." The 



CALEB AND THE ANAKIM. 331 

lapse of half a century makes no change in such a 
man. There is no sublimer thing on earth than a life 
like that. What wonderful consistency of character ! 
iVt forty he says, " Let us go up at once and take 
Canaan." At eighty-five he says, " Give me the very 
citadel of the Anakim, and by the help of the Lord I 
will take it." 

Although he had seen all his own generation buried 
except one man, he had not become morose or misan- 
thropic. He lived in the present and for the future. 
He used the past only as a means of strengthening 
his faith and as an incentive to duty. 

This is the true spirit. As old ties are sundered 
we should form new ones. We should never become 
alienated from the society or age in which we live. 

As our companions fall by the way we are tempted 
to say, " There is nothing more to live for." But 
there is enough to live for so long as duty is to be 
done — so long as there are a present and a future, in 
which and for which to act. 

As we increase in years, one by one, we are becom- 
ing a minority which is growing smaller and smaller, 
and we are hastening on to join " the great majority." 
Only Caleb and Joshua now remained of their genera- 
tion, and a few years later Caleb stood alone. 

Thirteen years ago this morning I began my labors 
in this church. What a remnant of my first congre- 
gation is left ! What a small audience that remnant 
would form ! And yet how short a time it is! It 
seems to me but yesterday. I remember the morning, 
the people, the sermon as distinctly as the events of 
last week. Yet since then we have passed through 
an awful war. Since then children that I baptized 



332 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

have grown to manhood and womanhood. Great 
changes have taken place here and elsewhere. In 
this church I have associated with eleven men in the 
eldership. Five of these are no more. The godly 
Robert Scott, the kind Uncle Dickson, the urbane 
Tower, the beloved young elder Gray, and the 
lamented and honored Brown — these all are gone 
from the session. About one hundred of the member- 
ship have died in the same time — one hundred — a 
silent congregation ! 

II. God's promises are not impaired by age. They 
are good for all periods of life. 

In this case forty-five years intervened between the 
promise and the fulfilment of it. But during no day, or 
hour, or moment of all this time had that promise lost 
its vitality or its validity. It was just as good in the 
darkest day of all these years as it was on the day that 
Caleb took possession of Hebron. We grow old, but 
God's promises do not grow old. If we continue in 
the path of duty as did Caleb, we need have no more 
doubt of the fulfilment of God's promises than of 
God's existence. Towering difficulties lay between 
this promise and its fulfilment. The desert was to be 
traversed. Nations and kings were to be conquered. 
A ford less river was to be crossed without boat or 
bridge. Walled towns were to be taken without bat- 
tering-ram or scaling-ladder. But Caleb did not 
doubt nor fear nor murmur. He went straight to 
duty and stuck right at it, never questioning God's 
ways or God's times. 

In our view the providence of God oft£n seems to 
be working directly in the face of his promise. Caleb 
was given the assurance of an inheritance in the land, 



„ CALEB AND THE ANAKIM. 333 

and yet it was declared in the same connection that 
that generation should fall in the wilderness. He was, 
indeed, to have his inheritance, but it would be after 
forty-five years of waiting. He was to reach Canaan, 
but it was to be by the way of the wilderness. Thus 
God's people often reach their inheritance, through 
wanderings ; but God leads them in the right way. 
Abraham waited — Isaac waited — Jacob waited. It is 
not strange that you should have to await God's time. 
Man would go to the inheritance by the shortest cut, 
but God's way Is through the wilderness. Though 
deserts and rivers and enemies and impregnable walls 
intervene God's word holds good, and God's provi- 
dence moves forward toward the accomplishment of 
the promise. God's pledge and providence harmo- 
nize, God prepares his people for their inheritance. 
Promises ripen to their fulfilment, and we ripen to the 
reception of them. If we are not prepared for 
them, they will prove a bane instead of a blessing. 

III. A life of faith and of virtuous obedience 
always receives its reward. 

The reward was pledged to, and bestowed upon 
Caleb, " because he wholly followed the Lord." At 
Kadesh-Barnea he spoke a brave word for the Lord, 
and forty-five years afterward he received an inheri- 
tance which was at once a recognition of and a recom- 
pense for his services. Thus a good action faithfully 
performed never loses its requital. This will come 
in some way or another and at some time or another. 
Goliath's sword turned up to the hand of David just 
when it could render him the most efficient service. 

While this, which has just been said, is true, I 
would have you remember another fact — he did 



334 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

not do duty for hire. He did his duty for its own 
sake, and he would have done it as faithfully if there 
had been no reward attached. Nor did he go about 
making long faces, and uttering loud complaints be- 
cause the compensation was not forthcoming. Had he 
been of the spirit of a great many men, he would have 
been continually grumbling : " The Lord has prom- 
ised me an inheritance in Canaan yonder ; and here 
I am dragged hither and thither in this desert with 
this rebellious generation. " He did not work in the 
Lord's vineyard for wages, or for honor, or for con- 
spicuous places. He quietly did his duty, and in due 
time remuneration and honor came. 

Duty faithfully performed has a richer reward than 
a heritage in Canaan. The inheritance comes to us 
as happiness comes ; that is, indirectly and without 
our seeking it. Let anyone set out to be happy, and 
the very thing that he seeks will elude him. It will 
not be wooed. But let the same person set out to do 
right, to help others, to do good, and lo ! before he 
knows it, happiness becomes a guest in his heart and 
his home. So it is with our reward. If we work for 
it, we shall not get it ; but if we do our duty without 
reference to it we shall certainly receive it in due 
time — that is in God's time and in God's way. It 
may be after a desert pilgrimage of forty-and-five 
years. 

IV. Let youth be so spent that one can look back 
upon it with pleasant reminiscences, and that old age 
may be enriched and honored by the rewards which 
always attach to an early service of the Creator. 

With what a glow of generous satisfaction Caleb 
could refer to his youthful conduct, which had been 



CALEB AND THE ANAKIM. 335 

approved by Moses, the man of God, forty-and- 
five years before ! With pride he could recall to 
Joshua's remembrance his life as a young man : 
" Then he wholly followed the Lord." Even before 
the first mention of him, and before his first recorded 
service, he had made a reputation for himself. If this 
had not been the case, he would not have been sent as 
one of the spies. In the conscientious discharge of 
duty he had won the confidence of Moses and of the 
congregation. Of these first forty years of his life, 
history gives us no particulars. But we can easily 
and safely infer their general character. Into such 
positions as Caleb occupied men are not put by 
chance. These are won by a steady, conscientious 
discharge of the duties of whatsoever post is assigned 
a man in the providence of God. Joseph in 
Pharaoh's prison made a reputation which carried 
him to the second place in the land of Egypt. Dis- 
charge well the duties of the position which you are 
already in, before you aspire to a higher one. Do 
not spend your time and sour your temper by regret- 
ting that you are not appreciated, or that you have no 
sphere for the exercise of your faculties. " Whatso- 
ever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might.'' 
Ten to one your sphere is larger than your capabilities. 
Surely you have as good a chance as Joseph had when 
he was in Pharaoh's prison. A virtuous youth will 
carry its rewards even to old age. Faithful conduct 
which seems to go unrequited will surely receive its 
due recompense, even though half a century elapse ; 
and a youth spent in idleness or vice will as certainly 
entail evil and curse and misery. Would to God this 
thought might be written with the point of a diamond 



$$6 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

on the heart of every young person here this morn- 
ing ! So spend your early days that you can look 
back upon them with pleasure and can say to others, 
as Caleb said to Joshua, " You remember what I did 
forty and five years ago." 

V. Let old age be active. 

Caleb had an active, green old age. He had seen 
a great deal of hard service, yet he was not worn out, 
nor had he rusted out. At eighty-five he was as 
strong as he was at forty. He was ready, and eager 
too, for further exploits. He does not say to J oshua, 
" I am now old, I have borne the burden and the 
heat of the day ; let me retire, and let younger men 
conquer my inheritance in the land." But he asks that 
Joshua give him the mountain where the Anakim 
dwelt, the appearance of whom had so demoralized 
the ten spies. These giants dwelt in fenced cities on 
a mountain fastness, but the old hero covets the task 
of conquering them. The same spirit is in him that 
was in him nearly half a century before. He says : 
" If so be that the Lord will be with me, then I shall 
be able to drive them out." And this he did. He 
drove out the children of Anak. 

This is a model old age. Far too soon men begin 
to say, " I am growing old." By saying so and think- 
ing so they make themselves old. If the body must 
age, that is no reason why the mind and heart should 
partake of its infirmities. Let them be kept young. 

As men approach the three-score years they be- 
come timid about undertaking new enterprises for 
Christ. They gradually put off the armor, and go 
upon the retired list or upon the superannuated list. 
Not thus do men give up the race for riches. Van- 



CALEB AND THE ANAKIM. 337 

derbilt, who is over eighty, still keeps a sharp eye on 
his fifty millions. Astor and Stewart, both old men, 
are carrying heavier financial burdens than ever.* 
Why then should men crave exemption from the 
service of Christ because of advancing years ? 
Neither should they seek or covet light service. 
Like old Caleb they should attack the Anakim in 
their strongholds. 

The Church is shorn of about one-half her strength 
by men's making themselves prematurely old. It 
mattered little to Caleb, at his age, whether he pos- 
sessed Hebron, or not, but with a large vision and a 
large heart he acted for the future ; not for himself, 
but for posterity. Do thou likewise. 

Caleb spoke these words on the anniversary of his 
birth : " Lo, I am this day fourscore and five years 
old." Instead of looking back complacently on the 
past and resting satisfied with it, he is forming large 
plans for the future — imposing upon himself an 
enterprise more hazardous than any he had ever under- 
taken. 

This is an anniversary with us. How shall we 
accept the future ? Are we ready to undertake large 
enterprises for the Master ? Are we ready to attack 
the strongholds of Satan, even though they be held 
by the very Anakim of iniquity ! Brethren, we have 
been resting on what has been done as though the 
whole land had been conquered. Oh, that the spirit, 
the courage, the devotion, of. the aged Caleb might 
incite each one of us ! 

Better have Gideon's three hundred than an army 
of thirty thousand who have no heart for the fight. 
* This sermon was preached in 1874. — Eds. 



33^ OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

My hearers, what lesson, what inspiration, has this 
anniversary for us ? Shall we not ask the Lord to as- 
sign us to some arduous and hazardous enterprise for 
his cause and for his dear sake? How was Hebron 
taken — the nest in the rocks of the Anakim ? By old 
and young marching against it ; Caleb, who was nearly 
ninety, leading the columns. In this land, which lies 
around us, we have a large inheritance, if we only have 
faith to receive it. 



IX. 

FAREWELL SERMON. 



IX. 
FAREWELL SERMON.* 

"Now the God of peace, that brought again front the dead cur 
Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood 
of the everlasting covenant \ 

" Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in 
you that which is well-pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; 
to whom be glory for ever and ever % Atnen" — Hebrews xiii. 
20, 21. 

I shall not preach an historical or a statistical ser- 
mon this morning, although the materials for such a 
sermon are abundant and inviting. In working up 
these materials there would be inevitably more or less 
of apparent egotism, and this I desire to avoid. 

The text is the benediction of the great apostle 
upon the Hebrew Christians, in whom he had so great 
an interest, and for whom he felt so deep and so ten- 
der a sympathy. By faith he seems to open the treas- 
ures of divine love and grace, and with an unstinted 
hand to pour these blessings, in all their fulness, upon 
the heads of those for whom he had labored and 
prayed. These wonderful blessings are not peculiar 
to the Hebrew Christians, but are the common inheri- 
tance of all the people of God in all ages of the world. 
And what an inheritance it is to the Church, and to 
each member of that Church ! 

I. The God of peace as a Father. 

* Qn retiring from the pastorate, December 31, 1876. 

341 



34 2 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

II. The risen, the ascended, the glorified Saviour 
as a pastor. 

III. The blood of the everlasting covenant as a 
charter of right, of privilege, and of salvation. 

IV. Perfection in every good work as the aim of 
human life. 

V. The sufficiency of Christ as an unfailing re- 
course in all labor and trial. 

VI. And as the end of all, the glory of Jesus Christ. 
Let us notice briefly these points : 

I. You have the God of peace as your Father. 
Through the death of Jesus Christ, God the Father 
is reconciled. He is at peace with the believing soul. 
Not sullenly, not reluctantly or grudgingly does the 
Father accept the sacrifice of the Son as a satisfac- 
tion, as an atonement ; not coldly or perfunctorily 
does he come into relations of peace and reconciliation 
with the sinner, but the moment that the soul accepts 
by faith the finished work of Christ, all past sins are 
forgotten forever. They are blotted out. They are 
cast into the depths of the sea. They are all covered 
by the blood of Jesus, and even the eye of divine jus- 
tice can discover no sin through or beneath that 
blood. The sinner then stands in the righteousness 
of Christ, and as the Father loves the Son so does he 
love those for whom the Son died. With divine com- 
placency he regards those who through faith accept 
the benefits of the death of Christ, and who have 
wrapped around them the robe of the righteousness 
of Christ. He is at peace with them, and to them he 
is the very God of peace. So profound is this peace, 
so solid and enduring, so secured against all risk of 
disturbance and loss, that to the quickened vision of 



FAREWELL SERMON. 343 

the believing soul God appears as the God of peace. 
The blessed and overwhelming fact of reconciliation 
becomes conspicuous and pre-eminent. 

Nor does the Father with judicial coldness pro- 
nounce the acquittal of the sinner and then retire 
within his own infinite sufficiency, and leave that jus- 
tified sinner to fight his battles single-handed and 
unaided, but he rests not until, through the Holy 
Spirit, he has established intimate and confidential 
relations with that soul. He not only makes recon- 
ciliation a fact, but he makes it an experience. 
Through his Word and by his Spirit he so exhibits his 
love, and compassion, and condescension, and sym- 
pathy, and faithfulness that the believer is constrained 
to cry, "Abba, Father." Not only is the peace an 
established fact, but this fact is made manifest in the 
experience of the believer, and it is a " peace which 
passeth all understanding." It is no fictitious peace ; 
it is no hollow truce ; it rests on no uncertain condi- 
tions, on no shifting foundations. It rests on the per- 
fectly adjusted relations between God and the soul ; 
and in the adjustment of these relations nothing has 
been overlooked or omitted which could, in any way, 
or to any degree, contribute to the perfection and ever- 
lasting security of this peace. The sinner looks over 
his past life — over the dark past it may be — but with 
unspeakable joy he sees the precious blood of Jesus cov- 
ering it all ; he looks into his evil and corrupt heart, 
but he sees the blood of Christ cleansing from all sin ; 
he looks tremblingly into the unknown future, but he 
hears the voice of Christ, who ever lives to make inter- 
cession, cheering him onward. It is perfect peace. 

But as doctrine does not rest in theory, but when 



344 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

received produces experience, so experience does not 
remain in the region of the affections, but produces 
practical results. This peace in the heart makes its 
warmth felt on others. The reflex of love to God is 
love to man ; and so the reflex of peace with God is 
peace with our fellow-man. The legend is that when 
the Apostle John was so old and feeble that he had to 
be carried to church he would repeat again and again 
the injunction, as he was borne up the aisle : " Little 
children, love one another." This was his last ser- 
mon — his dying testimony. 

Remember that the God of peace is your God and 
Father. " Let brotherly love continue/' For the last 
fifteen years we have dwelt together in peace. We 
have not spent our time in biting and devouring one 
another. Through the grace of God we have found 
enough to do without that. We have found enough 
to do in fighting Satan and in battling for the truth 
and the right. There has been scarcely a jar in the 
congregation in these fifteen years, and in the session 
there has not been even a jar ; and truer brotherly 
union and friendship than have subsisted between 
the pastor and the elders I do not expect to enjoy 
until I get to heaven. Let no bickerings, no little 
jealousies, no heart-burnings arise among you. Keep 
your great work in view, and keep steadily at it. 
This will shut out of the Church a hundred difficulties 
which otherwise would be sure to creep in. If you 
do not understand a brother, go to him and talk to him 
face to face. Look each other in the eye honestly for 
five minutes, and you will understand each other. I 
charge you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, " Let 
brotherly love continue." 



FAREWELL SERMON. . 345 

II. You have the risen, the ascended, the glorified 
Saviour as pastor. 

A pastor is a shepherd. He feeds and leads the 
sheep. Christ is the great Shepherd of the sheep. 
He is the great Pastor of the Church. Others are 
only under-shepherds. So that, in this sense, a church 
can never be without a pastor. 

When Christ came from the tomb he did not forget 
his work. He was still the great Shepherd of the 
sheep. His interest in his mission is as great now as 
it was when he wore the crown of thorns and carried 
his cross to Calvary ; although exalted and crowned, 
he is still the great Shepherd. His interest in his 
work has not abated an iota, and his shepherd's 
crook is the sceptre of the worlds. To that sceptre 
every power in the universe is subject, it extends over 
every interest of the Church and of the believer and 
is always at their service. He delivered his people 
from Egyptian bondage, he made a path for them 
through the sea, he led them through the desert, he 
planted them in the Promised Land, he brought 
them back from captivity, he made the preaching of 
fishermen the wisdom of God and the power of God 
to the overthrow of false systems of religion and of 
philosophy, and to the building up of the kingdom of 
righteousness in the earth. Even to this day he has 
made good every promise which he has ever spoken 
concerning his Church. The good Shepherd gave his 
life for the sheep ; will he, after that, abandon them 
to their enemies ? No ! he will lead them, feed them, 
and defend them even unto death. He unites in him- 
self all divine offices and attributes, and he devotes 
himself without reserve, in the fulness of these offices 



346 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

and attributes, to each one of his people. He who is 
the faithful witness, and the " First Begotten " of the 
dead, is also the Prince of the kings of the earth ; 
and this Redeemer is your Redeemer, and this God is 
your God. It is considered a great honor and advan- 
tage to have a friend at court, but your friend is the 
King himself — the King of kings, the King of glory, 
the King of the universe. The great Pastor leads, 
feeds, and defends his people, and will do so even to 
the end. 

I have stood beside many death-beds in this con- 
gregation. I have been with the people of God in 
great affliction, in deep troubles, but I have never 
heard one of them complain that Jesus Christ had 
proved faithless to his promises — never. I have stood 
beside many of your friends and acquaintances in the 
trying hour, who looked death in the face as calmly 
as they would look into the face of one of their chil- 
dren, or of one of their dearest friends. Through the 
grace of this good Shepherd I have seen those who 
believed on him die not only without fear, but in 
rapture and triumph. I could stand here and relate 
incidents and reminiscences by the hour. 

The room in which Lillie Fletcher died was the 
gate to heaven. It seemed as though she no longer 
belonged to the earth, but was speaking to us from 
the portals of the New Jerusalem, having already seen 
its glories, and being no stranger to its experiences. 

If ever there was a cool, clear intellect, it was the 
intellect of Jane Porter. As she lay dying, the very 
exquisite essence of the promises of God seemed to 
be filling her soul. She felt the dew from the everlast- 
ing mountains falling upon her. She calmly watched 



FAREWELL SERMON. 347 

the symptoms of approaching death. " There," said 
she, " is the rattle in my throat. I shall not be able 
to talk much more." The room growing dark to her, 
she remarked that the lamp had gone out, but when 
told that it was still burning, she said : " Then my 
sight is gone. Lay my hands across my breast, and 
stand around me and see how a Christian can die. 
Death is not like what I thought it was at all. I 
thought it was painful, but there is no pain. I 
thought it was cold, but it is not. It is but a step." 
This was not fanaticism or enthusiasm, it was calm, 
clear, strong faith, looking up through the pearly 
gates. Her mind was intensely active to the last, and 
was perfectly unclouded. It was a beautiful and 
triumphant death. 

One Sabbath night after services I went, in a drench- 
ing rain, to see, for the last time, old Mrs. Alexander. 
In the beginning of her sickness she had spoken to 
me of her being "down in the ashes," but then she 
was in the land of Beulah — on the mountain of myrrh 
and the hill of frankincense. To the question as to 
whether she was suffering, she replied : "Oh, no ! Oh, 
no ! " with an emphasis and an intonation as much as 
to say, " It is impossible for me to suffer. This is 
heaven ! " Her five sons, her daughter and her son- 
in-law — all good singers — joined in singing her favorite 
hymns, she participating as long as her strength lasted. 
The room was filled with melody, and thus she went 
up singing to the gates of glory. 

Fannie Black was not only willing to die, but had a 
great longing to depart and be with Christ. She said : 
" I have not the slightest desire to get better. I am 
just waiting till Jesus calls me. I only want to be 



348 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

with Jesus." Then tenderly putting her hand on her 
mother's cheek, and looking at her sister Blanche, she 
said : " Dear mother and dear sister, much as I love 
you, I do not want to stay with you any longer. I 
only want to be with Jesus. You must give me up. I 
have arranged all my earthly affairs. I leave my 
child, but I have not a care. I only want to be with 
Jesus. I haven't breath, or I would praise him all 
the time here — all the time, if I had breath." When 
she could no longer talk, her countenance would be 
lighted up with smiles of wonderful sweetness in 
response to the precious truths and promises of the 
Word of God. Her face shone as though it had been 
the face of an angel. 

Thus the Great Shepherd has left his record all 
through this congregation, and in no single instance 
has he proved fakhless or abandoned his people in 
the hour of trial. Through the valley of the shadow 
of death he has been with them, his rod and his staff 
have comforted them. 

III. As the charter of right, and of privilege, and 
of salvation, you have the blood of the everlasting 
covenant. 

Redemption is not a new idea nor an untried expe- 
dient ; but it was devised by infinite wisdom, was 
executed by infinite power, and is secured, at every 
step and at every point, by eternal covenant. 

God made a covenant with Israel at Sinai, which 
was solemnly ratified by the sprinkling of sacrificial 
blood upon the people. Thus they became His cove- 
nant people. He became their God, and led them 
and protected them, and saw that their clothes waxed 
not old upon them, and that their shoes waxed not 



FAREWELL SERMON. 349 

old upon their feet. " He kept them as the apple of 
his eye." " He made them to suck honey out of 
the rock, and fed them with the fat of the kidneys 
of wheat." Under the new order the people of God 
are sprinkled with the blood of Jesus, and thus they 
become his covenant people and he becomes their 
covenant God. Will he be any more slack in fulfill- 
ing the conditions of this new covenant than he was 
in fulfilling the conditions of the old ? " Honey 
from the rock " and the " fat of the kidneys of wheat " 
but faintly symbolize the richness and fulness of the 
spiritual blessings which God has in store for his 
people. Has he ever proved faithless to a single 
pledge? The blood of j Christ guarantees every 
promise, from that which secures the bread which 
shall be given and the waters that are sure, to that 
which opens the gates of the eternal city, and puts a 
palm in every victor hand and a crown on every victor 
brow. We pray to and we work for a God who is 
faithful to his promises. 

The session of this church would be worse than 
infidels if they did not believe in the efficacy of prayer. 
There have been many wonderful instances of direct 
answers from heaven. When I returned from Europe 
the first time, on the first Sabbath that I preached, 
as' I remember, I was surprised to see Dr. George 
McCook, Sr., enter the church. He sat just there. 
You all knew him. Who in this city did not know 
him ? You know the kind of a man he had been. He 
was a good and an eminent citizen, a man of great 
intellect and of prodigious force of character, yet, in 
respect of religion, he had been careless and reckless 
and had grown old and gray-headed in sin and rebel- 



3SO OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

lion against God. He was at that time nearly eighty 
years of age. On that Sabbath day, or a few Sabbath 
days after, as I walked down the aisle at the close of 
the service, one of the elders proposed a concert 
of prayer in the session for the conversion of Dr. 
McCook. In a few weeks afterward this man was 
preaching the Gospel in the lecture room with the 
fervor of an apostle and with the simplicity of a little 
child. He was an illustrious trophy of redeeming 
grace, and oh ! how he magnified that grace which 
could save an old and hardened sinner like him. 
Two years afterward I visited him when on his death- 
bed in New Lisbon, O. Although weak in body, 
his mind was strong and clear, and his spirit was 
rejoicing in the glorious Gospel of the Son of God, 
and I have no more doubt than I have of my own 
existence that his ransomed spirit is before the eter- 
nal throne this morning singing praises to the Great 
Shepherd of the sheep. This is but one instance. I 
could relate reminiscences of this kind by the hour. 
God is a faithful God, a God who answers prayer, 
who has answered prayer, and who will answer prayer 
in all succeeding ages. 

IV. Perfection in every good work should be the 
aim of each human life. 

In all living things there is movement. The Chris- 
tian cannot be stationary. Where there is spiritual 
life there will be spiritual growth and spiritual prog- 
ress, and the standard is perfection. 

Three things are necessary to the health and growth 
of the body — food, air, and exercise. Corresponding 
to these in the spiritual sphere are knowledge, prayer 
and activity. The Word of God furnishes spiritual 



FAREWELL SERMON. 35 I 

food, prayer is the breath of the Christian, and work 
for the Master develops the powers. Where these 
cease with respect to a Christian, he ceases to grow ; 
and when they cease with respect to a church, it ceases 
to grow. Do not forget, my brethren, that the mo- 
ment you cease to think of and to work for others, 
that moment you begin to die. Keep your beneficent 
agencies therefore in vigorous operation. Do not 
attempt to confine your life within your own circle. 
I know that in the judgement of some I have spent 
too much time in preaching on benevolence and 
beneficence ; but in looking back over the past I am 
satisfied that I have not preached on these subjects 
enough. This church has been blessed because it 
has cultivated the grace of giving. Its quickened 
and developed spiritual power has manifested itself 
in various agencies and organizations for Christian 
activity, such as the Woman's Foreign Missionary 
Society, the Woman's Home Missionary Society, the 
Young Ladies' Missionary Society, the Woman's 
Prayer Meeting, the Young Men's Prayer Meeting, 
the Young Men's Christian Association, and the Mis- 
sion Sabbath School. These all have been organized 
within the last fifteen years, and they have been a 
source of untold blessing and power to this congre- 
gation. Do not let them die. Cherish them. Watch 
over them, for so long as these organizations have life 
in them you will have life in the church itself. 

Do not forget ordinary duties. Do not neglect the 
regular Sabbath services, nor any part of them. Do 
not forget the Wednesday evening prayer meeting. 
Do not suppose that by doing some great thing once 
in a while you can condone for your neglect of these 






352 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

ordinary weekly duties. The power and efficiency of 
a church depend largely upon the interest that is 
taken in these meetings and exercises. Be regular in 
your attendance at all the services, and be there 
punctually. There is no excuse for being late at 
church. There is one fact which I mention here with 
some pride and complacency ; and that is that in the 
past fifteen years I was never late at a single meet- 
ing of any kind except once. This morning fifteen 
years ago I came in a buggy, over very rough roads, 
from Sewickleyville, twelve miles away, and I was a 
few minutes behind time, but never afterward. It is 
easier to be punctual than to be tardy. Cultivate this 
virtue. The aim of the Christian is a high and noble 
one. It is no less than perfection in every good work. 
Let this aim be yours. In all our efforts we have as 
an unfailing source the infinite sufficiency of Christ. 

"When I am weak then am I strong/' This was 
the experience of the apostle, and the conditions of 
Christian experience have not changed in these eigh- 
teen hundred years. We are earthen vessels, but we 
can do all things through Christ which strengthened 
us. Attempt nothing in your own strength. It is the 
privilege of the believer always to lean upon the 
omnipotence of the Son of God, and this omnipotence 
he finds available in all crises and emergencies, and 
finds it adequate to all necessities. The presence of 
Jesus can make a pile of blazing fagots a bed of roses, 
and " a prison a palace, a garden of pleasures, a field, 
an orchard of delights." Dear old Samuel Ruther- 
ford used to say : " I am taught in this ill weather to 
go on the lee side of Christ, and put him in between 
me and the storm." So you can always put Christ 



FAREWELL SERMON. 353 

between you and the storm. Live, work, fight, and 
suffer through Jesus Christ. Without him your 
strength is as brittle as rotten stubble ; without him 
your good resolutions are as weak as the smoking 
flax. In the humble and faithful discharge of duty 
we are always helped. When I have leaned on God 
in my weakness I have never been deserted ; but 
when I have trusted to my own wisdom and strength I 
have always been discomfited. I have come into this 
pulpit more than once without either text or sermon, 
but if I came in the right spirit I was always carried 
through, whereas, if I trusted to finely elaborated 
trains of thought, I proceeded as heavily as the wheel- 
less chariots of Pharaoh in the Red Sea. The years 
in which my preaching was most extemporaneous, and 
according to my own judgment and criticism most 
worthless, were the years in which we reaped the 
richest harvests ; while the year in which I preached 
the most elaborate sermons during my ministry here 
was the year in which there were fewer additions to 
the church than in any other in all the fifteen. 
When I was best prepared intellectually, I ordinarily 
preached the worst. When I have preached with 
some kind of intellectual complacency I have never 
heard that any good came of it, but when I have so 
preached that I was ashamed to face the congrega- 
tion in pronouncing the benediction, I have heard of 
souls being converted and comforted by the sermons. 
" When we are weak then are we strong/' 

VI. The end of all is the glory of Christ. 

The Christian labors for no mere secular ends, nor 
for results which are uncertain or perishable. Riches 
dissolve like snow, empires crumble, but every par- 



354 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

tide of true Christian work goes into the imperishable 
results of the economy and kingdom of Christ, and 
consequently cannot be lost. Nothing of this kind 
can ever be lost. The desires and aspirations of the 
Christian are for the glory of Christ, and his labors go 
in along with the work of the Master to contribute to 
the supreme end. This furnishes a motive and an 
aim worthy of a rational immortal creature. If you 
give your time and your effort to mere temporal 
schemes you spend your life upon that which sooner 
or later, and probably very soon, will crumble to 
nothingness ; but if you put your work and your 
prayers into spiritual enterprises, you contribute to that 
which is imperishable. 

There was a young man in this church who became 
dissipated, was cast out of the membership, broke his 
young wife's heart and sent her to a premature grave, 
spent all he had, and through his debaucheries ruined 
his physical constitution. He set himself deliberately 
to lead a fast life and to see what was in it. I sat by 
his cot in one of the public hospitals of this city as he 
was wasting away in consumption, and in tones that 
thrilled along every fibre he told how he had tried sin 
and carnal pleasure and had found them a cheat, a 
hollow cheat! How he had been defrauded of his 
life, how Satan had decoyed him by his promises of 
pleasure, and how ail these promises had proved 
utterly hollow and false ! He always returned to this 
idea that he had played a game with Satan, but that 
he had been overreached, overmatched, deceived, and 
made a laughing-stock for devils. So will it be with 
everyone who rejects Christ for the sinful pleasures of 
this world. I speak to young men this morning whose 



FAREWELL SERMON. 355 

feet are planted in the very path in which this young 
man went, and sooner or later, that path will lead to 
the same bitter experience. Young men, do not let 
the devil, by his lies, cheat you out of your lives, your 
happiness, your souls. Consecrate yourselves to 
Christ, and let your lives be a perpetual rendering of 
the doxology : " To Him be glory for ever and ever." 

Fifteen years ago this morning I began my ministry 
here by preaching on Rev. i. 5, 6, " And from Jesus 
Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first be- 
gotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the 
earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from 
our sins in his own blood, 

" And hath made us kings and priests unto God 
and his Father ; to him be glory and dominion for 
ever and ever. Amen." 

Thus I began my ministry here, and thus by the 
grace of God I have continued even unto this day. 
The prophethood, the priesthood, the knightship, and 
glory of Christ, and the glory resulting to his people 
through these offices, these have been the themes of 
this pulpit. I have not preached to tickle itching 
ears, or to produce popular sensations. I have not 
gone to the columns of the daily newspapers or to 
JEsop's Fables for texts, nor have I gone to old 
almanacs for illustrations. I have had always enough, 
both of subjects and of matter, in the Bible. To-day 
I look over my course in this respect with ineffable 
satisfaction. The experience of the past fifteen years 
in this church proves that people will come to hear 
the plain, simple Gospel, and that an interest can be' 
sustained without clap-trap and demagogism. If 
sinners have been converted and believers have been 



35^ OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

fed and comforted and strengthened, the result aimed 
at here has been accomplished. 

It is not strange that I should have an interest in 
this church. Here I labored as a Sabbath-school 
teacher during my course in the Theological Seminary. 
Here my deceased brother spent the one-half of his 
ministry. Innumerable ties bind me here. These are 
strengthened by a thousand tender memories and asso- 
ciations, and only a clear and imperative call of duty 
compels me to sever them. They will be severed, how- 
ever, only in an official sense. In reality I trust they 
shall never be broken. I have given the best years of 
my life without stint to this church, and I do not regret 
any toil that I have endured or any sacrifices that I 
have made for its sake. The work has been its own 
reward and has paid me a thousand-fold. I have 
enjoyed preaching the Gospel here as I never expect 
to enjoy anything again. The happiest hours of my 
life have been spent in this pulpit and in the little 
pulpit downstairs, and in my intercourse with the 
elders, officers, and members of this congregation. 

But these years are gone and their record is made 
up. What years they have been ! What changes, what 
revolutions, have taken piece ! What thrilling his- 
tories have been enacted ! Fifteen years ago Louis 
Napoleon was the arbiter of Europe. His nod or his 
frown convulsed Cabinets and Senates. We have 
seen him a prisoner and an exile. Fifteen years ago 
Prussia was scarcely a third-rate power in Europe. 
Now, under the lead of Prussia, Germany is consoli- 
dated into a mighty empire. Fifteen years ago French 
bayonets propped up the tottering temporal power of 
the Pope. Now the Pope has no temporal power. Fif- 



FAREWELL SERMON. 357 

teen years ago there were four millions of slaves in 
this country. Now there is not one. Fifteen years 
ago the great Civil War was just beginning. During 
these eventful years we have worked and prayed and 
wept together. On a Sabbath morning came the news 
of the battle of Fredericksburg. On a Sabbath morn- 
ing came the first uncertain tidings of the battle of 
Gettysburg. On a Sabbath night, just after service, all 
the bells of both cities began to ring. It was thought 
by many to be an alarm of fire, but it was the announce- 
ment of the surrender of Lee. On the next Sabbath 
morning I came through a sobbing congregation to 
a pulpit heavily draped in black. President Lincoln 
had been assassinated. During all those awful years, 
the memory of which comes over us as a horrid night- 
mare, we prayed and wept and hoped and sorrowed 
together ; and I reckon it not the least of the mercies 
of God toward us that we were carried through these 
fearful crises without any schism. So far as I know 
only one man ever left this church because of any 
utterances from the pulpit, and you know whether or 
not this pulpit has been muzzled. These have been 
wonderful years and have been full of peril and of 
trial, but in every emergency we have been enabled to 
say Jehovah jir eh, and at the close of every year and 
epoch we set up our Ebenezer. 

At our first communion Robert Scott — of blessed 
memory — handed me an envelope containing a list of 
those who had been added to the church. I put it away 
carefully and ever since I have preserved these lists in 
the same manner. There are sixty-two of them, one for 
each communion. There has not been a single commun- 
ion without additions to the church, and but three at 



$$8 OCCASIONAL ADDRESSES AND SERMONS. 

which there were no additions by profession of faith. 
What a history these lists represent ! How hearts have 
throbbed and swelled as they were read ! 

I shall never cease to thank God that He has per- 
mitted me for fifteen years to proclaim " the unsearch- 
able riches of Christ " in this pulpit. I should rather 
have done that than to have governed an empire for 
the same length of time. Some upon whose foreheads 
I put the water of baptism in infancy have been 
admitted to sealing ordinances. We have much for 
which we ought to be thankful. Let us not be for- 
getful of our mercies. I do not wish to make you 
sad, but if I were to open the flood-gates of memory 
I could stand here by the hour and call up reminis- 
cences which would make us all weep. But I do not 
wish to send you away sorrowful ; I would rather 
send you away happy and rejoicing. I am thankful 
for the past, and I commend you to the God of peace 
for the future. 

My work as pastor is done. It has been full of im- 
perfections, but I can truly say that it has been sincere 
and earnest. I have not sought yours but you. I 
have not coveted filthy lucre. I have labored for the 
good and for the advancement of this church. I leave 
without a particle of ill-feeling toward any member of 
the congregation, or toward anyone who ever has 
been a member of it. If I have injured anyone in 
thought, word, or deed, I humbly beg pardon. 

And now I must hasten to a close. The hour has 
come which separates us as pastor and people. With 
the tenderest memories of the dead — what a host of 
them ! how I miss them ! all around through the con- 
gregation I see their faces, I hear their voices, I feel 



FAREWELL SERMON. 359 

the pressure of their hands — with the tenderest memo- 
ries of them, with the sincerest esteem and affection 
for all the living, and with the most earnest prayers 
for your present and eternal welfare, from my heart 
of heart I say the final word, Farewell, and God bless 
you. Amen and amen. 



THE END. 






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